[089] The
Avalanche (04/30/2007) This website is presently experiencing
the biggest traffic surge in its history. The cause? Being
ranked number one by Digg today for The
Real China photo album. How big is big? On April 29, the
web log file was 7.6 gigabytes in size (note: that is just the log file).

[088] Ghost
Marriage Matchmaker (04/30/2007) (Guangzhou Daily via Daqi)
Based upon a tip from a citizen, the reporter located this ad: "Ghost
Marriage Matchmaker Service: We offer choices and options for people with
different family names from different areas so that you can find the
suitable choice for the lovers that have passed away. Address/telephone
number."

The reporter then proceeded to the location in Jiangmen city and found the
store. This was a simple store about 10 square meters in area with
nothing except for some tables and chairs plus a television set with which
the owner passes time away. There are no business permits posted on
the wall. The owner is a 50-something-year-old man wearing black
rimmed glasses.

The reporter claimed to have a recently deceased cousin in her twenties and
that her parents wanted to find a spouse for her. With enthusiasm, the
owner took out a notebook and began to fill in the particulars of the
deceased person. The owner then pointed to one entry and said:
"This man was 25-years-old and he died in a traffic accident. We
can arrange for an immediate meeting of the two families." The
reporter asked about the matchmaker's fee and the answer was: "The
registration fee is 50 yuan. If the match is made, then the fee of
1,000 yuan will be shared by the two families."

The reporter then contacted the Jiangmen city Culture Office. In
reaction to the information, the director said that any business without a
permit should be closed. Besides, this was an activity based upon
feudal superstition and should be banned anyway. The director notified
the Department of Industry and Commerce, which sent people out to the site
only to find it already shuttered. But the workers took down the sign.

[087] Expert
Endorsement (04/30/2007) (Daqi)
In the television commercial for the C1000 mobile telephone from CECT, the
endorsement came from a foreigner named Wales who is positioned as a
"Global mobile telephone reseach expert."

Who is Mr. Wales?

Well, there are 137 million netizens in China. Sooner or later,
someone is going to find Mr. Wales. Thus, one netizen has identified
the foreigner to be a supporting actor in the television series <God of
Cuisine> (see screen captures). It is wrong for a company/ad agency
to hire an actor to pose as an expert. Of course, it is entirely
possible that Mr. Wales is a mobile telephone research expert in real life,
but moonlights as an actor as a pastime.

If you watch carefully, you will note that the loyal users of Baidu Post or
Tianya go there basically "every day" to "hang
around." Within this group, the majority of them never post a
single word. They are purely "submariners" who read the
posts (More people post at Baidu Post than Tianya because the product
characteristic there encourage users to post).

How can so many "submarine" users still result in the high
stickiness? Based upon prior experience, we say that the user want to
chase away their bordeom: "No matter what their educational level is,
the young Chinese netizens do only one thing -- they get together and they
chat. At Tianya, Baidu and Touban, Chinese netizens do the same thing
-- they get together and they chat." But this idea is only half
right. "Getting together and chatting" can explain the
"small groups" at Touban. But over at Baidu Post and Tianya,
this can only explain the small minority of "keyboard-active"
users. For the many more "submarine" users, they don't say
anything and so they cannot be "chatting."

The loyal but silent users at Baidu Post and Tianya go there ever day in
order to read the "non-official news"; especially the
"non-official" social and entertainment news. That is to
say, Baidu Post and Tianya are news websites for the many loyal but silent
uers. Everybody needs to know the news every day, and that explains
why Baidu Post and Tianya are so "red-hot popular" now.

This also explained why the large BBS communities are so popular on the
Chinese Internet. In the western world, the traditional media are
strong and powerful and they can satisfy the basic needs of the people for
news. In China, for reasons that we all know about, the people hold a
delicate attitude towards official news. Therefore, when they are
unsatisfied with official news, they get the rest from the BBS's. It
is the strong need of the users for news that may those BBS communities so
popular.

After sorting through this point, then the
fact is that Baidu Post and Tianya are competitors against each other .
These two websites are the major "unofficial" news portals, just
as there are four "official news portals (Sina.com, Sohu.com, QQ and
NetEase). Interestingly, Baidu Post and Tianya have specific
strengths. Baidu Post is stronger in unofficial entertainment news
while Tianya is stronger in unofficial social news. In the competition
between the two, each has to maximize their strengths while improving their
weaknesses.

For Baidu Post, the key is the front page
because it is presently not being attended to. The product model of
Baidu Post makes its front page even more important than at other
BBS's. In other words, the Baidu Post users need more
"guidance" in order to popular spots, especially about social
news.

For Tianyu, the key is to "get more
servers." Tianya does not lack anything else, but it needs more
servers.

Hong Kong's major
newspapers last week gave prominent coverage to how Chinese President Hu
Jintao shook the hand of Donald Tsang — who's heavily favoured to be Hong
Kong's next leader, or chief executive. The papers were all looking
for signs of an official anointment when the men locked hands on Monday in
Beijing.

"Donald Tsang shakes
hands with Hu Jintao for 11 seconds," the mass-market Apple Daily said
in a headline. Ming Pao Daily News put the timing at 10 seconds,
adding that "other leaders were very affectionate toward Donald
Tsang". ... Apple Daily pointed out Tsang's Monday handshake with
Hu was five seconds longer than their handshake in Macau in December, before
Tsang emerged as a likely candidate for Hong Kong leader.

The handshake analysis
isn't that far-fetched. Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin
apparently sought out Tung Chee-hwa in a large group for a public handshake
before he became Hong Kong's first leader after Britain gave it back to
China in 1997. TV news reports have been replaying the footage of
Jiang zeroing in on Tung in the large crowd. The South China Morning
Post noted that while the Hu-Tsang 11-second handshake was
"impressive", Hu still gave Tsang two seconds fewer than Hong Kong
businesswoman Pansy Ho, daughter of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho.

At the
third Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural forum, Chinese Communist
Party Secretary-General Hu Jintao shook hards with Taiwan's Hon Hai Group
chairman Terry Gou for more than 22 seconds.

Afterwards, Terry Gou was showered with
questions from the media. "Little Ling is getting married.
How do you feel?" and "You spoke with Chairman Hu Jintao for a
long time. What did you talk about?" Terry Gou parried off
the questions with remarks such as "I need to use the bathroom"
and "I have a meeting to attend."

[084] The
Origin of the Statistics of Mass Incidents (04/28/2007) From Squishy
Numbers by Austin Ramzy at The China Blog (TIME):

The number of "mass incidents"...
is probably one of the most abused (by journalists seeking to prove a point
as well as government officials trying to do the same thing), squishiest
numbers in China, a subject on which Roland Soong of EastSouthWestNorth blog
wrote the definitive analysis.

At this point, I wish to interject and dispel
the notion that mainstream western correspondents based in China are either
lazy copy-and-paste hacks or agenda-driven sabotage agents who have no qualms
about abusing numbers. I wish to address the question of the origin of
that so-called 'definitive' post.

Before that post appeared, I had been sniping at those statistics (see Mass
Incidents in China, 1/20/2006) and complaining that I don't understand
the meaning of the 74,000 or 87,000 which is quoted so often by foreign
correspondents. In November 2006, I had an in-person meeting with
a worker for a major media outlet and I put the question to him directly:
"What is the deal with this story? How can it be? Why is this
being recycled all the time when it is dubious?" This person gave
me a detailed explanation about the exact origin (including the precise event,
the names of the persons/organizations involved, the unfolding of events and
the revelant research afterwards). I was astonished. I asked
(naively): "So why can't you write a report to rectify the
impression?" The response was that in view of the audience market
of this particular western media outlet, there was no way that such a complex
and convoluted story could ever be published. Then this person turned it
around and said, "But you can write something about it!" At
that point, I really did not have a choice. Right?

Subsequently, I received a list of the major documents (e.g. the definitions
for mass incidents/public disturbances from Ningxia, Jiangsu and the People's
Republic of China Code of Criminal Law) that this western media outlet had
found from its research efforts. I wrote the original post and then my
informant made some significant corrections. The final result is that
so-called 'definitive analysis.'

This end product is still unsatisfactory to me, because I didn't think that I
had reached closure. I was less
interested in the description of the historical process than the 'true'
number, which remains shielded. In any case, I wish to point out here
that the project was made possible by a member of the western mainstream
media. At a minimum, one of them is not a hack/saboteur. Austin
Ramzy is the second one. Of course, there are many more (unless you are
of those who keep quoting the 87,000 number for 'mass incidents'!).

[083] $$$,
$$$, $$$ and more $$$ (04/28/2007) (tom.com)
Based upon a tip, the reporter went to a certain construction site in
Xiangfan city, Hubei province. This site was located right at an
intersection and the controversial issues stemmed from the walls on both
sides of the sales office. On the southern wall, there were three
painted smiling characters holding stacks of American dollars (with the face
of President George Washington) and there are also bags with the Yuan sign
behind them.

The reporter asked a couple of people who
were chatting on a bench. "Who are the three people holding the
American money?" One of them said, "Aren't these The Worker,
The Peasant and the Soldier?" The other person quickly added, "The
Worker, the Peasant and the Soldier are trying to make money nowadays."

On the western wall, there are three
"flood-flighting warriors" wearing orange life-saving vests raising
fistfuls of foreign currency bills (British pounds or whatever)?

On the eastern wall, there are five or six
heroic looking men and women holding money bills and bags of cash in their
hands.

An official in charge of reviewing outdoor
advertisements told the reporter that these boards were submitted for review
but had not been approved. "I remember the one about The Worker,
The Peasant and the Soldier. How can this possibly be approved?
The Worker, The Peasant and the Soldier were the product of a particular
era. They were known for holding Mao's Red Book in their hands.
How can that be switched for money bills and bags? This is too
mocking!"

The reporter found the ad designer, who said:
"The design was based upon the needs of the developer and the conditions
in the local market. The local consumers has to remember it. Why
the money (including American money)? Investing in commercial shops is
about earning money! The ad tries to convince consumers that investing
in the shops will earn money! The revolutionary martyrs and the
flood-fighting warriors? That is what you think, because my ads do not
indicate who those people are. One can only feel and sense these things,
because it is impossible to explain clearly. The ads use drawings and
color to provide a sense of beauty."

[082] Taiwan
By The Numbers (04/28/2007) (China
Times) (771 persons inerviewed on April 27. A sample of
telephone numbers was drawn randomly from the telephone directory and then
the last two digits of the selected numbers were randomized)

Do you accept the proposed route for the
Olympic torch for the 2008 Beijing Olympics?50% yes
16% no
35% don't know

By party affiliation, 84% support by
pan-blues, 33% support (and 48% oppose) by pan-greens and 48% support (15%
oppose) by independents.

Should Taiwan participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics?70% yes
5% no

Are you concerned that China will use the Beijing Olympics to pressure
Taiwan?30% yes
57% no

... Frankly speaking, outsiders are
clueless about the history of the several decades of disputes between the
sides of the strait. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, I met many
European, American and African athletes and coaches and more than 90% of
these foreigners do not understand why Chinese Taipei and China have
different Olympic Committees, or why Chinese Taipei is used instead of
Taiwan. The International Olympic Committee is tired of the
"troublemakers" who continued to create political bickering.

When I was working for the Chinese Taipei
Olympic Committee in 1998, I met IOC chairman Juan Samaranch who said
something that impressed me. He said, "It was a huge concession
for Taiwan to be able to participate in the Olympics (note: he was referring
to the 1981 agreement with the IOC in which Taiwan agreed to use
"Chinese Taipei"." This meant that he was hoping the
two sides would cease interfering with sports with politics.

... Whether to reject the presence of the
Olympic torch in Taiwan or not is no big deal, because this is just a
prelude for the Olympic Games and not the games themselves. I am
worried that the government leaders will refuse to send representatives to
the Beijing Olympics in consideration of the presidential election?
This action may cause the IOC to exclude Taiwan outside of the international
Olympic family and lose the ability to participate in all future
international sports competition. That will mean the loss of a apolitical
international stage ...

According to Chinese Taipei Olympic
Committee Secretary-General Chen Kuo-yi, since February 12, the Chinese
authorities have used the term "China Taipei" to refer to
Taiwan. The Chinese media have also used "China Taipei" to
refer to Taiwan. "We obviously feel suppressed by the other side
whose attempt to lower the stature of Taiwan is obvious. After
communication failed to achieve any effect, we made the decision not to
accept the Olympic torch on April 23."

President Chen Shui-bian explained that at
the Tokyo Olympics, the Olympic torch came from some other country (not
China) and left for another county (not China). Therefore, Taiwan will
not be lowered in stature this time.

What if the IOC bans Taiwan from
participating if they refuse to let the Olympic torch pass through?
Premier Su Tseng-chang said that Taiwan must not lose its national
stature. Su said that he can accept the use of "Chinese
Taipei" to attend the Beijing Olympics because this had been previously
agreed upon. But "China Taipei" would damage sovereignty and
lower the national stature. If the Beijing Olympic Organizing
Committee were to use the name "China Taipei," Su said firmly that
Taiwan "will not participate and will not accept."

The Olympic torch incident occurred right
at the moment of the primary election of the Democratic Progressive
Party. What had been 50% political has now become 100%
political. What can one say?

China's arrangment of the Olympic torch
route was tricky. From Japan, it goes to South Korean and then to
North Korea. From North Korea, it goes south to Vietnam while bypassing Taiwan.
From Vietnam, it goes back north to Taiwan. Then it goes to Hong
Kong, Macau and then China. Any route designed by a mentally normal
person would go Japan->South
Korea->North Korea->Taiwan->Vietnam->Hong Kong->Macau-China. This is
the least economically wasteful route and it is also basic knowledge in
Euclidean geometry (namely, the shortest distance between two points on a
plane is a straightline). There was no reason to circle around.
In China, everything is about politics. If the route goes from Taiwan
to Hong Kong to Macau to China, then it shows that Taiwan and Hong Kong are
part of China. This is the same old trick by China, and so it is no
wonder that the Democratic Progressive Party (which is in the midst of a
primary presidential election) refused to go along because they are afraid
of being cursed out by the deep-green voters.

The Democratic Progressive Party and the
Chinese Communist Party are political animals and they know all about each
other's tricks. There will be one casualty in the battle of the DPP
election and the Olympic torch. Either China compromises and restore
the route to the logical one: North Korea->Taiwan->Vietnam->Hong
Kong->Macau->China, or else the Olympic torch will bypass
Taiwan. Prometheus stole fire from the heavens in order to save mankind, but
apparently with the exception of Taiwan. The ancient Greek Olympic
flame has been polluted by Chinese politics to serve "One
China." What do the gods of Olympus think about the debasement of
the sacred fire?

Even so, it is necessary to figure out what
went wrong. How come the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee signed an
agreement in March in Beijing to agree with this route and then our
government changed its mind in the end and rejected the route? As a
result, CTOC chairman Tsai Chen-wei is being condemned from all sides.
China even brought out the signed agreement to cause Taiwan to become known
internationally for betrayal of confidence. There is undoubtedly an
impact on the presidential primary election in Taiwan. It is also possible that the Chen
Shui-bian administration wants to use the Olympics to explain the
differences and conflicts between Taiwan and China to the international
community, including their current situation and the desire for
independence. Thus, they rejected the route that they originally
accepted in order to show that China is oppressing Taiwan and lying to the
world.

While this may achieve some effect, it
comes at the cost of betrayal of confidence. Actually, when the
Olympic torch arrives in Taiwan, they can initiate a demonstration to
express their will in front of the international media. This should be
more impactful than the betrayal of confidence at present. Besides,
where does the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee stand right now? How
is anyone going to believe their promises? How can they negotiate on behalf
of the government? This is a case in which the government has just
slapped itself.

The ideologically driven ruling Democratic
Progressive Party rejected the route for the Olympic torch for the 2008
Beijing Olympics on the grounds that it "lowered the stature" of
Taiwan and thus set a precedent for the international community. The
Taiwan authorities brutally used politics to interfere with sports, and this
will only damage the international image of Taiwan. If Taiwan chooses
to exclude themselves from the international Olympics family, the
International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee
can chose not to have the Olympic torch going through Taiwan.

The IOC and the BOOC announced the route of
the Olympic torch on the evening before from Ho Chi Ming City (Vietnam) to
Taipei (Taiwan) to Hong Kong to Macau. This route was confirmed in an
signed document between the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and the
Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee in February. But the DPP authorities
now think that this route treats Taipei as an "international
route" and lowers the stature of the sovereignty of Taiwan.
Therefore this was absolutely unacceptable.

People must be asking: When the Chinese
Taipei Olympic Committee chairman Tsai Chen-wei was negotiating with
Beijing, did he communicate beforehand with the Taiwan authorities and
received their authorization? The answer is obviously that it is
impossible. The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee executive vice-president Jiang Xiaoyu exhibited a "Meeting memorandum on four
points of consensus" about the Olympic torch route and Tsai Chen-wei's
signature was on it. Jiang Xiaoyu then accused the Taiwan authorities
of "betrayal of confidence."

The precedent-setting act by the Taiwan
authorities of refusing the entry of the Olympic torch lets the world see
that the Democratic Progressive Party is steeled in its determination to
promote Taiwan independence and they are insisting that the Olympic torch
must enter Taiwan from some county and leave Taiwan for some other
country. The purpose was clearly to highlight the fact that Taiwan is
a sovereign country and to inflame the populist emotions of the pan-green
supporters in Taiwan, thus assuring the continued rule of the DPP next
year. Beijing has no choice but to reject this unreasonable betrayal
of confidence.

The DPP authorities created this storm over
the route of the Olympic torch and let everyone see that they will do
anything to win the 2008 Presidential election. The DPP may be
successful in hijacking public opinion in Taiwan and make the Olympic torch
bypass Taiwan. But the IOC must sternly state their principle of
"One China" and condemn the political interference into sports by
the Taiwan authorities.

Session #1 (November 11, 1992) Guo phoned Chen.Guo: Ah Mei! Listen to me. I'll give you a sum of money and
find a good man for you. That is where your true happiness will
be! Listen to me. I can't keep doing this to you. I truly
feel for you, alright? You are in this far too deep.
Chen: But you did not even call me back, right? I am sincere towards
another person, who is not. Do you know?
Guo: It is not that I don't care! But this sort of thing just gets
deeper and deeper! What can I do? Let me give you a hug and a
kiss ... there is a problem with this telephone . Let me talk to you about
this some other day, alright?

Session #2 (November 27, 1992)Guo: The principle is that I have to arrange a place for you to
live. The problem is how I can assemble the money. The question
is: Do you need to buy such a nice house?
Chen: Actually, I have this feeling. I don't want to negotiate with
you today about this ...
Guo: But you said that you would feel secure with a house. If you can
feel secure, you can find someone to marry, right? But if you
don't want to marry, it is up to you too ...

Session #3 (December 14, 1992, 7am) Chen phoned Lin Su-ru, the late
wife of Guo. Lin offered NT$3 million instead of NT$5 million that Guo
promised.Lin: You take this or else you get nothing. If you want it, I'll
wire the money over tomorrow.
Chen: You fetch Terry first. This is what he said himself. I
don't think that you want an answer from me. You just care about the
amount of the money, right?

Session #4 (December 14, 1992, after Session #3). Chen phoned Guo.Chen: I expect that you are a gentleman. We agreed on this
previously. Based upon our relationship, I did not want to accept this
condition. But you said so yourself that you were willing to
compensate me this way for our five-year relationship ...
Guo: You brought up that number.
Chen: We don't have to swear to the heavens. I don't care if I lose
out. But from this matter, I can understand even better what kind of
person you are! I trusted in your character before, but it seems that
you can go back and forth over what you promise. Is this what you are
like?
Guo: 我他媽個B
(note: obscenity). I have to go to work now. You can say
whatever you want.

Session #5 (December 14, 1992, after 8am) Chen phoned Lin again.Lin: Since you said that this is not an issue about money, then this
money (namely NT$3 million) should be enough, right?
Chen: What do you care if it is enough for me or not?
Lin: I obviously don't care if it is enough for you or not. But I
think that this is what you are worth!
Chen: I am only worth that much! I had an abortion for him and then I
took care of him at home.
Lin: You should have known that this was the outcome. What do you
want? Like your friend -- he buys you something and you have a baby
with him. This is impossible. You have the wrong person!

Session #6 (December 14, 1992, 1pm) Lin wired the money to Chen's
account and Chen calls Lin to play Guo's taped promise for NT$5 million.Chen: Here is the condition that I agreed with Terry and I have even let
you hear the tape. All the evidence showed that he is a person who
can't keep a promise. I really don't want money. I just want him
to pay a painful price.
Lin: But all this is over now.
Chen: If we are breaking up, I must be willing. When I don't hate him
anymore, then we can settle this. When we initially agreed, he pushed
the blame on you and let you negotiate with me. I think that he is
trying to avoid me. He is feeling guilty towards me. He does not
dare to face me.

In response to the Next Weekly report, Terry Guo said: "Chen Chong-medi
turned from love to hate. My mistake was to bring her to my
home." The Hon Hai company spokesperson said on behalf of Terry
Guo: "First, the facts are what they are. Second, concerning the
past, the male and female principals have different understanding. For
example, in a daily greeting, one side may feel that it is warm and caring
while the other side may feel that it is just politeness because they have
different attitudes. Thrid, any matter that involves defamation or
extortion should be left for the judiciary to handle."

[077] Transnational
Nude Dancing (04/26/2007) (Ming
Pao) In Changchun city, Jilin province, the public security
bureau detected the presence of a group which organized pornographic
performances for online distribution. The special case squad
identified the woman Li as being one of the suspected performers. They
entered her home by force and caught her in the act. Following the
clues, the public security personnel arrested eight other suspects in Jilin
and Heilongjiang provinces and confiscated four computers. Since 2005,
the group has hired more than 20 "performers" and generated
profits of almost 300,000 yuan.

But here is a problem: the performers are in mainland China but the
spectators are registered users in Taiwan who subscribe to a
Taiwan-registered website. The mainland public security bureau could
not even watch the performances by normal means. So is there even a
crime? If the woman Li wants to take off her clothes in the privacy of
her own home and no Chinese citizen on the mainland can see her, is there
even a crime?

Here is how the system works (AHN):
Under the new rules, Chinese gamers will have to
register with their state-issued 18-digit identity cards based on age,
gender, and place of birth. If they are over the age of 18, the user can
play for as long as they like. However, players whose IDs show they are
under 18, or who submitted incorrect numbers, would be forced to play
modified versions of online games featuring an anti-addiction system
encouraging them to spend less time online -- those who stayed online for
more than three hours a day would have half of their game credits canceled,
while those who played for more than five hours a day would have all of
their credits taken away.

Great, but a survey conducted by Insightcn showed that 34% of the users do
not welcome the system; worse yet, 9.6% of the users "believe that they
have the ability to come up with software to hack the anti-addiction
system."

Here are two strategies published by user 铅华尽洗
on April 18: (1) You apply for several ID's within the same online
game. When one of the ID's accumulates three hours of playing time,
you sign out and sign in using another ID. Thus, you own multiple
ID's. (2) You apply for ID's from various online games. When one
of the ID's accumulated three hours of playing time, you switch to play
another game. This way, you have no restrictions on your experience
points or treasures. You can also enjoy different types of games.

According to an Gapp official: "The system is not counting the online
time for a particular ID. It is counting the cumulative online time
for all ID's belonging to a particular state-issued 18-digit identity card
number. Thus, it does not matter if you switch from one game ID to
another game ID. You will continue to be tracked. Also, our
research show that most game addicts are involved in one game only."

Another strategy is to use identities from people. For example, the
user 乐乐 asked
at a game forum: "I need to register an online game account. Who
can lend me a identity card number? The user "Overmindoyj"
replied: "I possess two million authentic card numbers which are
completely consistent with the public security bureau's database. I
welcome retail sales." Another user 水丁当
recommended an "ID generation tool" and provided a download URL.

The new system has also impacted the 'economy' of online gaming. Since
it takes time to acquire equpiment, it is easier perhaps to purchase
them. Therefore, the price of equipment has been rising.

Online games have different revenue models. Some of them charge on the
basis of time spent; others offer free usage but charge for equipment.
Since minors do not have much purchasing power for the equipment, they
usually use the first method. But under the new system, the total
amount of time will decrease and therefore the income of those time-spent
online game companies will decrease too. In the case of World of
Warcraft, there is one important mission in which a group of about 40 people
have to spend five hours or so to combat monsters. This means that the
World of Warcraft may be losing many minors as players.

Taiwan on Wednesday resumed diplomatic ties
with St Lucia, scoring a small victory in its diplomatic war with China.
Premier Su Tseng-chang, while campaigning for his bid to join the 2008
presidential election, told a mass rally in Chungli City that St Lucia
became Taiwan's ally on Wednesday. 'I have a good news to tell you.
That is St Lucia will become our 25th diplomatic ally tonight,' he
said. But Taiwan's Foreign Ministry has yet to make a formal
announcement regarding Taiwan and St Lucia's restoring ties.

Was this actually a trap (i.e. St Lucia
announces later that it will continue to recognize China)? Su
Tseng-chang has made his bet. What do you think?

Update: (Radio
Jamaica) St. Lucia has officially announced that it will be
establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The announcement to
parliament by Foreign Minister Rufus Bousquet came on Tuesday during debate on
the 2007 budget.

[074] A
Break From Regular Programming ... (04/25/2007) (Roger Simon
at The
Politico)

Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected
president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on
the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.

But if a Republican is elected, he said,
especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.

“If any Republican is elected president
—- and I think obviously I would be the best at this —- we will remain
on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop
them before they do it,” Giuliani said.

Where is the evidence? On the September
11, 2001, a terrorist attack occurred under the watch of a Republican
president, a Republican Senate, a Republican Congress, a Republican New York
State governor and a Republican New York City mayor (=Mr. Giuliani himself). So there you have
it ... 9/11 wouldn't have happened if the Republicans were in
charge! Oh, but they were in charge ... it's terribly confusing ...

[073] Netizen
On Trial For Terroristic Threat (04/25/2007) (Southern
Metropolis Daily via KDNet)
According to the testimony of Zhao Zhonghua, he was working overtime in his
electronics company in Guangzhou at 730pm on February 6. He had spent
three days in the queue but failed to obtain train tickets to return to his
hometown. So he signed on to the ChinaRen chat area under the name
"zzhuachia" and posted a comment titled: "I could not get
train tickets; I'm going to bomb the Guangzhou train station." In
the post, he wrote: "I work hard the whole year just so I can go home
and see my parents. Although I have been a tax-paying citizen for
years, I have never changed my desire to go home during the Lunar New
Year. This year, I have been uneasy about the high home prices, evil
hospitals, arbitrary fees and corrupt officials. Now that I am unable
to buy train tickets, I'm doing to bomb the train station. Everybody
please support me. You will hear from me before February 17."
The post was read and commented on by twenty-eight people. One netizen
wrote: "You can bomb the Shenzhen train station as well. I'm not
going home this year. It is a waste of money to leave it
there." Zhao Zhonghua replied to that person: "Don't ask for
too much!" Another netizen said: "I don't need to
reply. Terrorist, someone is going to look you up!"
According the Guangzhou Railroad Police, they sent more than five hundred
person-occasions in checking the plaza, lobby, platforms and trains at the
Guangzhou train station.

The Public Security Bureau's Internet Monitoring Department went into
action. At 4pm on February 7, ChinaRen deleted the post. At
10pm, the police arrested Zhao Zhonghua.

According to Zhao's defense lawyer, only twenty-eight people responded to
the post. This was a very low response level and so the post did not
cause public fear or consequences. Zhao said that he was frustrated
because he really wanted to go home and he accepted responsibility for the
serious consequences. Zhao said as he sobbed: "I now understand
that the law exists not just in the real world, but it also exists in the
virtual world."

The deputy director of the mainland's press
watchdog, Liu Binjie, will be elevated to the post of chief censor,
replacing his sidelined boss, authorities announced yesterday.

The Central Party Committee and the State
Council officially announced that Mr Liu, first deputy director of the
General Administration of Press and Publication (Gapp), would be promoted to
director after four years in his current position -- overseeing crackdowns
on pornography and illegal publications.

Authorities also announced that outgoing
director Long Xinmin would no longer "hold his positions as Gapp party
secretary and National Patent Administration director".

Xinhua said Mr Long would be transferred to
the Central Party History Research Centre to take up a job as deputy
director, but his ministerial-level rank remained unchanged.

... Gapp has come under increasing
criticism over the past year, under Mr Long's leadership, for tightening its
control on dissenting publications -- especially its decision earlier this
year to ban eight controversial books by mainland intellectuals.

One of the eight banned authors Zhang Yihe
said that it would make no difference: "You can say that I and my
friends are happy about the transfer. That is a genuine state of
mind. But this elation is not about globating about him
personally. Wu Shulin who named me directly has not moved. Why
are he happy? Because China is ruled by people. We hope that his
transfer will change the brutal and arbitrary way in which the products of
Chinese intellectuals are treated. ... China is ruled by people.
Liu Binjie has now come on and I hope that he will bring something new and
not 'business as usual.' In this legal system, it does not matter who
is in charge. This is a special characteristic. Why are the
Chinese people so concerned about the personnel arrangements from the
Seventeenth Congress? That is because they are hoping that better
people will be put in there, especially the small number of people and
groups that rule over the spiritual products of intellectuals. We need
to work harder on the situation. ... This is not just about one essay,
or one person, or one book. The government/party in China can ban
newspapers, periodicals and books at will. This has to stop. I
feel that China must go down the path of the rule of law. But we
cannot expect that it will be handed over to us; every citizens must work
for it."

[071] The
Mainland Taxi Driver Spy in Taiwan (04/25/20007) (China Times
via ChineseNewsNet)
In the latest issue of Defense News weekly, the story was that there are
more and more mainland spies working covertly in Taiwan. Former deputy
Minister of Defense Lin Chong-Pin believed that there are more than 5,000 of
them and he personally once got into a taxi cab driver by a mainland spy in
Taipei.

Lin believes more than 5,000 mainland
Chinese spies are operating in Taiwan. Lin himself stumbled upon one who was
driving a taxi here in 1995.

“The driver spoke with perfect Pekingese
and admitted that he was from Beijing, briefed by the Taiwan Research
Institute [affiliated with the People’s Republic of China’s National
Security Ministry], with a master’s degree from Tsinghua University in
hydraulic dynamics, and was here in Taiwan to ‘serve the broad masses by
comparing the strengths and weaknesses between the capitalist and socialist
systems,’” he said.

Lin reported the matter and discovered that
the Ministry of Justice Investigative Bureau (MJIB) was already aware of the
man.

Critics say that both the MJIB and the
National Security Bureau are fully aware of spies, but refuse to arrest them
for fear of damaging business ties with China. When spies are caught, they
are normally repatriated to China. Many times, they are simply put under
surveillance without taking action, MJIB sources said.

Examples abound of Chinese prostitutes
working in karaoke hostess bars (KTVs) near military facilities in Taiwain.
Sources say some of the worst examples include areas near the Tsoying Naval
Base in Kaohsiung and Army headquarters in Taoyuan.

However, some doubt the effectiveness of
using mainland taxi drivers and prostitutes as spies.

“Is it worth planting a honey trap in a
KTV to gather info from an E-4 [a junior rank level for American enlisted
personnel], when perhaps the same info could be obtained from open
sources?” said a former U.S. intelligence officer who has worked in both
Beijing and here. “Taiwan is a fairly transparent society, but in the
military and intelligence fields, they’ve learned from the same sources in
terms of masking the truth, distortion, compartmentalization, etc.”

[070] The
Dead Judge (04/25/2007) (Beijing
News) At the Rule of Law forum at Chinacourt.org, there was a
post titled: "Guilin city Pingle county judge found mysteriously dead
inside police station." The post explained: On March 22, judge Li Chaoyang was summoned by police of the Guilin city procuratorate for
questioning. On March 24, a fax was sent to indicate that he had been
detained. Thereafter, the family was not able to visit or talk to
him. At 1:30pm on April 2, the Pingle county court informed the family
to go to the detention center. When the family got there, there were
informed that Lai had died of unknown causes that morning."

On April 21, Chinacourt.org reported <Guangxi judge Li Chaoyang dead in
detention center with mysterious injury marks all over the body."
The report said: "All leaders in relevant departments were vague about
the cause of death when asked by the family. Nobody said what the
cause of death was or offered any explanation. The family petititioned
at the Guilin City People's Congress, the city government, the city
political consultative conference, the procuratorate and the public security
bureau and were treated with indifference." The Pingle court
confirmed Lai's death and said that the cause of death was unknown.

According to the dozens of photographs taken by the family, the most obvious
sign of injury was a long gash about 15 millimeters long underneath the
nose. The wound had been sewn with more than ten stitches. There
were also two front teeth missing.
More graphic photos: photo 1,
photo 2,photo
3, photo 4.

What is even more bizarre is the autopsy. According to the family,
they elected the Guilin School of Medicine Hospital to conduct the
autopsy. But a doctor there told the reporter that they have not yet
conducted any autopsy because the permission of the family and the public
security bureau had to be obtained, and the latter has not done so.
The hospital had contacted the family twice and given them copies of the
medical case history file. The family was astonished when the reporter
told them what the hospital said. They said that they have not had any
contact with the hospital and they do not have any copies of the medical
history. So who was talking to the hospital and getting the
photocopied materials?

Addendum: (Southern
Metropolis Daily)
According to what an unnamed official told the family, Li Chaoyang had been
behaving unusually. In the morning, he would urinate on himself; at
night, he would scream that he was innocent and thus disturbing the sleep of
others. When the police tried to talk to him, he would urinate and
defecate on himself and bang his body against the wall. On the day
before his death, the guards helped him to take a bath and they found his
energetic and spirited. At around 5am, someone saw him eating the
leftovers from the previous day's meal. At 840am, the guards found him
immobile in bed. They sent him to the hospital where there this
pronouncement: "The patient's heartbeat and breathing have
stopped. Expired."

On April 5, the family began posting in the local Internet forums in Guilin,
but the posts were quickly deleted. On April 14, a blogger registered
at Sohu.com under "The Death of the Judge: A Blog from a Dead Person to
Living Persons 法官之死，一个死人留给活人的博客" to spread the news. On April 20, some netizens
wrote up the story for Chinacourt.org, where an editor confirmed the
information before posting it as the top story on the front page. But
all related posts have been deleted as of yesterday.

[069] Which
One Of You Hasn't Done It? (Apple
Daily) As the case of the Next Weekly reporter Zang Jiayi
extorting Taiwan's richest man Terry Guo (see previous
comment) goes to trial, another person has emerged to resurrect an
old case of marriage infidelity by Terry Guo.
A PR person might give normal advice for Terry Guo to keep a stiff upper
lip, but he has decided to come out swinging at the media. Yesterday
at a press conference, Terry Guo spoke to the media for forty minutes.

He began by saying that the media are public tools for society. He
apologized to society for letting his personal matters take up too much media
space recently. Then he addressed the present situation. He said
that the case against Zang Jiayi is ongoing and when someone brings up this
other matter at this time, this is clearly an attempt to influence the
course of justice. As for the other woman, he said: "I don't want
to talk about this at first since it involves the reputation of a
woman. When I sued at first, I considered not wanting to hurt a
woman. But the broad coverage given by Apple Daily was quite
unreasonable. First of all, they made her out to be a ... I cannot say
that she is a lady. I will explain in court later that we got
acquainted in a bar. She was working at the bar named 'Forbidden
City.' When we began to establish our business, we had to go to
restaurants, dance halls and bars. I am neither saintly nor
virtuous. In business, it is unavoidable to join in the fun on
occasion (我既非聖人也非賢人，做生意逢場作戲在所難免。)
You don't have to do it, but you better be prepared to do it. I would
like to ask all the male reporters here to raise your hand if you have never
joined in the fun on occasion?"

The Apple Daily reporter and one other reporter raised their hands.
"You haven't joined in the fun. Wow! Two of you! I
admire you! You media spare no effort to attack the head of a large
corporation, a man who was born in Taiwan and who pay taxes in Taiwan.
You media do not think about the words and phrases that you use. My
media friends, when you report on an exposé, why can't you work harder to
verify it first?

Apple Daily's Chief Editor Chen Yu-hsin said that the Apple Daily report on
the old case was based upon the decision of the Supreme Court. Apple
Daily believes that the Supreme Court must have heard both sides of the
story and done its due diligence before coming down with the judgment.
If the facts as described by the court were unreliable, then is anything
reliable? Even so, Apple Daily claimed to have contacted Terry Guo's
company Hon Hai multiple times for confirmation of the facts.

Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Guo called a
press conference yesterday to address questions about his own love
affairs. He was confident and reassured as always. But when the
richest man in Taiwan asked, "Has anyone here not joined in the fun on
occasion?" it is enough to remind people of Jackie Chan's "I made
the mistake that every man will make." This may cause even more
problems when society criticizes his mistaken values.

Based upon the evidence in this 19-year-old
extramarital affair, irregardless whether the Chen woman trapped him or
became jealous, the fact was that Terry Guo had been unfaithful to his
wife. While Terry Guo may genuinely believe that "every man under
heaven has joined in the fun on occasion," this obviously contravenes
good social custom. For a person who had been unfaithful to make that
statement brazenly in a press conference is socially unacceptable.

Worst yet, Terry Guo's forthrightness and
honesty might cause some men to admire and praise him. This is
ignoring the fact that his name has been recently linked to various
actresses and therefore in the social limelight. Now he is emphasizing
that "I paid money" during his affair with the Chen woman.
This will inevitably cause people to feel the "arrogance of rich
people."

Terry Guo questioned yesterday whether
Taiwan has adopted the American media culture, in which certain people with
high social standing are brought down by smears in order to make other
people feel better. "Why are you people interested in me?
Am I that important?" He also said that if the media can have a
pact of self-discipline to not report on him anymore, he will erect a bronze
statue for every reporter.

Terry Guo may feel wronged. But how
could the finances, words, ideas, social visions and moral values of the
richest man in Taiwan not be important? How can the media not be
interested? Terry Guo does not have to deprecate himself as a
"hypocritical philanthropist." With his wealth and position,
he can be a "genuine philanthropist" who can contribute to Taiwan.

[067] More
From The Web (04/23/2007) Here are some responses on the
comment From The Web in which I suggest bloggers
make a list of recommended links. In a comment to Trouble
with “N*gg*r Brown”, cat wrote: "Thank you! And thanks to
Roland for linking to this post, because these few minutes of my life would
have been just that little bit less happy if I’d missed it."
There is another long quotation from Michael Turton at The
View From Taiwan.

But I should tell you about the beauty and the limitations. I am a
person who read a lot more than most other people, and I have decided to
share the most interesting pieces of my readings. You do not have to
like what I find interesting (not all of the time). You always have
the choice of not coming here, or to screen out whatever you don't
like. The point of my comment was that you should do the same to tell
the world about whatever you find interesting (and which may be
diametrically opposite to mine). I will be very happy if that is the
result. As I have stated many times, the world would be quite
miserable if everybody thinks and feels the same way that I do ...

At this particular moment, my recommendations for English-language links on
Greater China are:

Of these seven links, I consider four of them to be my personal
friends. Their links appear not because they are personal friends, but
because I find what they are saying to be interesting. I do not even
agree with Dan Southerland's piece. But if he has spent enough time
and effort to reflect on a subject close to my heart, I thought it would be
interesting to my readers to see a different perspective.

Citizens in Bao'an have been saying that it
was absurd that criminals are leaving their telephone numbers on outdoor
walls to advertise the sale of counterfeit money. On March 19, the
reporter followed up on the tip from a citizen and found a telephone number
on the wall by the side of Seashore Middle School in Bao'an District
41. There were four or five similar numbers on the same wall.

This reporter called the telephone number
and expressed the desire to purchase counterfeit money. The man who
took the call said that he was selling counterfeit 100, 50, 20 and 5 yuan
bills, plus 1 yuan coins as well. He offered a price of 10 yuan for
each counterfeit 100 yuan bill and he stipulated that the total face amount
of counterfeit bill must be at least 10,000 yuan. He made an
appointment with the reporter to meet the next day at the Bao'an Plaza and
he promised to transact in person.

On the afternoon of March 20, the reporter
went to the Bao'an Plaza to meet the man as scheduled. The man called
to say that he was out of 100 and 20 yuan bills at the moment but he had 20
and 5 yuan bills. He said that these counterfeit bills were all stored
away and cannot be inspected in person. However, he was willing to
send over a sample to this reporter.

Ten minutes later, the man called again to
say that the sample has been delivered. He instructed the reporter to
proceed to a public telephone booth at the corner of the Bao'an Plaza.
He claimed that there is a sample bill placed at the top of one of the
telephone booths. The reporter reached for it and found a 5 yuan
bill. This was a brand new bill and it was impossible to tell whether
it was real or counterfeit.

The reporter then called the man, who
refused to transact in person due to safety reasons. He asked the
reporter to wire the money to an account at the Bank of Agriculture and he
promised that the counterfeit bills wll be at a hotel near Bao'an
Plaza. "As soon as I receive the money, I will send the hotel
room key to you."

Although the reporter considered that this
may be fraudulent, he wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery and so he
wired 500 yuan over. Then the reporter called the man. The man
verified that the money was there and he said that he has already obtained a
hotel room in which the counterfeit money has been placed. He said
that he would send the hotel room key over. Then he added that the
hotel room fee was pre-paid by his friend. He asked the reporter to
wire 200 yuan to his account to pay for the room.

At this time, the reporter demanded
strongly to meet the man. After some excuses, the man then announced
the truth: "I don't have any counterfeit bills. This is a pure
con game." The man said, "You are the second victim
today." The man said that he had been defrauded previously in the
same way. Afterwards, he realized that this was perhaps a good way to
make money. The man then explained the method to the reporter.
At the end of the call, he even said, "If you are interested, you can
cooperate with me. You can bring some people over. After I take
their money, I will give you a percentage."

[065] From
The Web (04/22/2007) I see that Danwei
now has an "From The Web" section on the top of the page for links
to interesting articles elsewhere. This is something that I applaud
heartily. Earlier this year, the EastSouthWestNorth introduced an
expanded Section on recommended photos/videos/readings. This website
represents the effort of one individual who can only do so much. If a
topic is adequately covered elsewhere, he will not duplicate the effort;
instead, he will point out these other articles of interest to him.
There is some feedback that there has been appreciable impact to the website
traffic to many of the linked websites.

I urge all bloggers to adopt the same recommendation process. As
individual bloggers, we have limited influence. If we form a
recommendation circle, we can make each other known to many more
people. Any blogger will recommend only that which is
interesting/meaningful to him/her, and this should not be otherwise. I
am making this suggestion because we should all try to give a greater effort
to make the blogosphere better known and more influential than individual
bloggers in isolation.

[064] Taiwan By The
Numbers (04/22/2007) (China
Times) No, this is not a public opinion poll commissioned by
China Times. Rather, this is a poll of almost 3,000 persons
interviewed April 13-16 commissioned by an unidentified DPP legislator
[comment: you have to figure out who this is and why he/she does not want to
be identified].

Following the present scheme of eliminating the "blues" (that is,
those who support the KMT, PFP and New Party), Frank Hsieh has 29% support;
Su Tseng-chang 24%; Annette Lu 12.5%; Yu Shyh-kun 5.6%. "No
opinion" constitutes 27.5%. In this survey, 27.8% of the survey
respondents were eliminated "blue" supporters, which is close to
the 30% estimated by the DPP central committee.

Concerning those party members "who have free will," Frank Hsieh
leads by 36.8% to Su Tseng-chang's 30.1%.

If the independents in the middle are eliminated so that only
"greens" remain, Frank Hsieh leads by 50.1% to Su Tseng-chang's
27.1%. Among those who support the DPP, 49.8% support Frank Hsieah and
28% support Su Tseng-chang. Among those who support TSU, 50% support
Frank Hsieh and the rest are split between Annette Lu and Yu Shyh-kun;
nobody supported Su Tseng-chang.

Among the independents who do not favor any political party, 23.6% support
Su Tseng-chang and 21.1% support Frank Hsieh. Among those who refuse
to provide party identification, 17.7% support Su Tseng-chang and 16.4%
support Frank Hsieh.

Under the banner of opinion monitoring,
muckraking became popular in the United States in the 1960's and 1970's and
it has now become popular in China too. When the media industry caught
onto investigative journalism, the reporter becomes not just a report but an
investigator who has to be brave and risk-taking to delve into
investigations.

Muckraking can come up with good news
stories. For example, CCTV's <Economy 30 Minutes> reporter Sun
Jing posed as an ordinary tourist to participate in a three-day tour in Hong
Kong and secretly filmed the tourist traps in Hong Kong: the $10,000
"diamond watch" had glass but no diamonds.

There are other times that reporters get
into trouble during the process. There is just a thin line between
"exclusive" and "inaccurate" and between
"fame" and "calamity." One can find oneself easily
on one side or the other.

On April 6, 2007, CCTV's <Economy 30
minutes> reporters went to Qinhuangdao (Hebei) to investigate an illegal
and polluting factory, they were attacked by more than 20 identified thugs
who seized their filming equipment. One female reporter was almost
drowned in the river. During the assault, the thugs were crying:
"One more dead is another gone."

In August 2006, Taiwan richest man Terry
Guo's Foxconn sued two China Business News reporter over their inaccurate
report about "overtime work" practices. Foxconn demanded
3,000,000 RMB in compensation and froze their personal assets. Later
they reduced the amount to a symbolic 1 RMB. In the end, Foxconn and
China Business News issued a joint statement: Foxconn agreed to withdraw the
lawsuit; the two sides apologized to each other. China Business News
chief editor Qin Shuo admitted later that the broadly quoted closing
paragraph in the news report ("we work harder than mules, we eat worse
than pigs, we rise up earlier than roosters, we get off work later than
night club girls, we act more obedient than grandsons, we look better than
anyone else now but we will look older than anyone else five years
later") may seem exaggerated.

In September 2005, Henan Commercial Press
was suspended for one month on account of a story about 480
"reporters" showing up at a mine which had an accident to receive
"bribes for shutting up." According to informed sources, the
report was accurate. But because there are numerous fake reporters who
go around extorting coal mines and this report had a huge negative impact,
the authorities decided to deal with it this way.

More recently, the "infected tea"
investigative report has caused a stir in Chinese public opinion and this
led to a debate about professional ethics.

In this story, a certain reporter posed as
a patient and submitted tea for urine analysis at ten Hangzhou
hospitals. Six of them came back with a diagnosis of infection and
five of them prescribed anti-infection medicine worth around 1,300
yuan. The "infected tea" case immediately drew the attention
of netizens with some people condemning the doctors for wrongful
prescriptions intended to rip money off patients.

But the doctors struck back in less than 3
days. According to China Youth Daily, doctors at 92 hospitals around
China organized "tea-for-urine" tests and 127 out of 136 reports
showed "infection." This showed that if you use tea for
urine analysis, it is normal for infection to be diagnosed. Thus, this
has nothing to do with the medical ethics of doctors.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Mao Junan
said that the equipment was not designed to tell urine from tea. When
the reporter substituted tea for urine, the testing system is
disrupted. "If the media wish to plan these types of news in the
future, they may use beer tomorrow, soy sauce the day after tomorrow ... In
order for the hospitals to deal with these types of situations, they will
need to insert one additional step before the test -- they will have to
determine if it was urine first and then they can conduct a urine
analysis. This can get complicated." Mao said that this
type of report violates the professional requirements for journalists and
misleads the public.

When Minister of State
Administration of Work Safety
Li Yizhong was interviewed by <People's Daily> and he said: "The
Ministry oversees safe production, but it has to be supervised by the media
at the same time. The media are not the Central Disciplinary
Committee. They are not an investigative work group. You cannot
require that they be correct in everything that they say."

When Li Yizhong said "the media
cannot be required to be correct in everything that they say," it may
seem like tolerance and trust of the media. But some believe that Li
Yizhong is actually making a even tougher demand on the media by requiring
them to use more rigorous self-discipline in return for the tolerance and
trust. If the tolerance and trust are misused, then this is socially
irresponsible and will cause the media to lose public trust.

The allure of "investigative
reporting" is due to its effort in revealing "the news behind the
news." The muckrakers are praised for uncovering the truth.
Conversely, if the muck is wrongly raked, they will be soiled.

On my computer, I am looking at two
identical Sina.com blogs. They have the same photograph, they have the
same name for the blogger and they have the same blog posts. But I
look at them carefully and I discover that the domain name is off by one
letter. Furthermore, the blog posts were published at different times.

I had discovered accidentally that there
was another Rose Garden at Sina.com blogs and the blogger was also me.
It should not have mattered because I write things for people to read and I
don't mind (and I actually welcome) re-publishing. But this new
"me" is very eerie. After all, in the Internet world, who
can prove which one of two "me's" is the real
"me"? If one day, the other "me" began to publish
things that I did not write under "my" name, how can I defend
myself? How can other people tell the real "me" between the
two "me's"?

... This "other me" is also
different because there are Google ads. I don't know if the large
number of visitors meant that Sina.com is allowing users to make money on
their turf and then splitting the receipts. No matter what, I am
getting somewhat angry. It is alright for you to make money, but why
are you using my name? Then I felt a bit lost. Who is suppose to
be responsible for this kind of problem?

Like many other people, I think a lot about
how to blog. I am certain that I am not the only one who has come
across such a "creative" act to create another
"me." Does the blog service provider have the responsibility
to think about how they administer such problems?

[062] Value-Added
Service (04/21/2007) (Dayoo.com via Sohu.com)
In Mulunqiao park next to the pedestrian mall in Dongguan (Guangdong,
China), the reporter found five female shoeshiners setting up shop.
Two of them wore sexy tops, short pants, lipstick and mascara and had a
booming business. The other three were plainly dressed and could only
sit and watch in jealousy.

One of the two said: "I used to be a hotel service worker. It was
hard work and I did not make much money. Coompared to another kinds of
work, shoeshining allows greater freedom and it is not too tiring. On
a good day, I can make more than 100 yuan. Sometimes when the guy is
in a good mood, he may give 20 yuan. On the worst day, I can still
make 50 yuan. In total, I make around 1,500 yuan a month."
The other said: "I work from day to night. Sometimes, I have to
shine 50 pairs of shoes per day. I work so hard that my hands are
numb. It does not matter whether one is shining shoes, picking garbage
or pulling cars, one is earning money with one's labor."

What does the public think? An old woman who was strolling in the
park: "What kind of sight is this? The pants even have splits on
the side. In our hometown, she would be cursed." The other
female shoeshiners looked at them with disgust and said that shoeshining is
an art as opposed to selling the body. A male customer said: "I
give 1 yuan to ordinary shoeshiners, but 2 yuan to the fashionable female
shoeshiners. In every occupation, there are those are excel. You
can paid for the value of your work. They should be encouraged."

[061] A
Dog's Life (04/21/2007) (Apple
Daily) On November 3, 2006 in Taipei, a woman named Lai parked
her car in the street and opened the car door. At that moment, a
70-year-old man named Wu walked by and Lai's Gigi jumped out to bark at the
man. So Wu used his umbrella to hit the dog and yelled at it.
Gigi jumped back and was almost run over by a car. So Lai began
cursing: "I'll compensate you after you get bitten," "This
dog is more valuable than an old man's life" and "If you hurt this
dog, I'll make you pay with death." Wu talked back. At that
moment, a male bystander named Huang joined in to support Wu and reminded
him that he can always file a lawsuit. The verbal fight then continued
among the three.

The police came along. The first thing that they noted was that Huang
was riding a motorcycle without wearing a safety helmet. So they asked
to see his driver's license and he said that he did not have one. The
police fined Huang on two counts. As for the dispute, Wu insisted that
he was threatened by Lai but was willing to withdraw charges if Lai would
pay Huang's fines. Lai refused and landed in court.

Lai has been sentenced to 20 days of detention, which can be substituted by
a NT$20,000 fine.

[060] CNN/NHK
Penalized in Taiwan? (04/20/2007) (Apple
Daily) In the university campus shooting case that shocked the world,
the alleged perpetrator Cho Seung-hui sent some videos and photographs to
American media. In Taiwan, NHK, CNN and other local Taiwan news
stations showed the images, which include Cho Seung-hui pointing a gun at the camera
or his own head, and holding a knife against his own throat.

The National Communications Commission (NCC) in Taiwan announced that they
have made recordings of these broadcasts and will review whether they have
violated any laws. The opinion is that news broadcasts should be
viewable by children. But whereas the local Taiwan news channels
masked the weapons in the images and removed the soundtrack, the overseas
media did not. As a result the Taiwan representatives of these
international news channels (NHK and CNN) may be fined anywhere between
NT$100,000 to NT$1,000,000. The representative for CNN said that this was
unacceptable: "CNN was broadcasting accurate information. It is
impossible for the channel's local representative to modify live broadcast
news."

[059] Free
Advertising (04/19/2007) (Lam Kay at PlasticHK)
On the left, it is singer Rain Lee and on the right it is actress/singer
Jessica Hester Hsuan. Each of them is holding up a portable NDS
machine. Sharp-eyed netizens spotted the telltale sign of the R4 card,
which everybody knows is needed in order to run pirated games! So
someone has made free advertising posters for the R4 card and posted them on
the discussion forums.

[058] All
So Stupid (04/19/2007) (SCMP; no link) Claim Fanny Law said
teachers were 'stupid' rejected. By Liz Gooch and Polly Hui.
April 19, 2007.

The claim former permanent Secretary for
Education and Manpower Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun said Hong Kong teachers were
"all so stupid" was a manufactured story to create media sound
bites, an inquiry heard on Thursday. Lisa Wong Kwok-ying SC, counsel
for the Education and Manpower Bureau, accused the academic vice- president
of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, Bernard Luk Hung-kay, of
manufacturing his claim Mrs Law criticised Hong Kong teachers when he met
her at an official cocktail lunch in Canada in 2000.

Professor Luk denied the accusation at the
inquiry into allegations of government interference at the institute.
He told the inquiry on Saturday that when he was introduced to Mrs Law at
the lunch, she said: "Tell me something bad about Hong Kong
teachers." "I said: 'there are bad things, but also good
things'¡K I said 'for example they work very hard' and she said, 'but they
are all so stupid'."

The lunch was held when a Hong Kong
government delegation, led by Michael Suen Ming-yeung, then secretary for
constitutional affairs, visited Canada. Mrs Law was director of education at
the time, but her appointment as permanent secretary had been announced.
Under cross-examination, Ms Wong put it to Professor Luk that he
"manufactured this story in order to gain sound bites in the
media". But Professor Luk replied: "Not true".

The version in the Sing
Tao story actually contained a great many details of the examination.

Bernard Luk testified that on the afternoon
of Mary 2000, he was introduced by the Hong Kong Trade Office (Toronto)
director to Mrs Law and he was arranged to sit to the right of Mrs Law
during that lunch. He said that Mrs Law had to leave after the entree
was served because of an appointment with local education officials.
Luk said that he was taken aback when Law said: "Hong Kong teachers are
all so stupid."

Lisa Wong then produced the seating chart
for that day and quoted the Hong Kong Trade Office deputy director who said
that Luk did not dine next to Law and that the director was busy with
Secretary Michael Suen on that day.

Now isn't that a strange turn of
events? In April 2007, Luk recalled a dinner conversation with Law in
2000. Who is to say that it did not happen? Except a seating chart
was retrieved and an eyewitness came forth. Sing Tao did not say how Luk
responded to this piece of 'fact.'

The other part in the questioning of Luk
pertains to that old issue about who spoke of 'firing people.'

On a radio program, the host asked Luk whether the speaker was a
"principal officer under the accountablity system."
Luk declined to answer and thus created the impression that it was indeed
Secretary of Education Arthur Li.
Lisa Wong: "You are a historian. You look for accuracy on
everything. What did you not clarify on radio?"
Bernard Luk: "Either I did not hear the word 'accountability system' or
else it was just a radio talk show -- in any case, it was not in a court of
law and there was no need to be too clear."
Lisa Wong: "Why didn't you tell the media that it was not Arthur Li who
spoke of 'firing people'?"
Bernard Luk: "I am a teacher. I am used to letting the students
find their own mistakes."

The lawyer for the vice-president of the Hong
Kong Institute of Education Bernard Luk Hung-kay yesterday cast doubt on
claims that the former permanent secretary for education and manpower never
told his client that teachers were "all so stupid" during a lunch
in Canada. Martin Lee Chu-ming SC revealed new evidence to challenge
two witness statements claiming that Professor Luk could not have spoken to
Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun at the official lunch in Toronto in 2000 because they
were not seated together. "We checked. We found three of the
people listed to sit at Mrs Law's table did not actually attend [the
luncheon]," Mr Lee told the inquiry into allegations of government
interference into the HKIEd's internal affairs sparked by Professor Luk.

Mr Lee's revelation came after Benjamin Yu
SC, for the commission of inquiry, read out a witness statement given by
Donald Tong Chi-keung, then director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade
Office in Canada, which organised the event. Contrary to Professor
Luk's testimony, Mr Tong claimed he did not recall introducing the
vice-president to Mrs Law, neither did he hear her making the remarks:
"Tell me something bad about Hong Kong teachers" and that Hong
Kong teachers were "all so stupid". Mr Tong's statement also
said his office would have sat more important guests next to Mrs Law, who
was then director of education.

Lisa Wong Kwok-ying SC, for Mrs Law,
earlier presented a seating plan to the commission, showing that Professor
Luk was sitting at a different table. She also submitted a statement given
by Eddie Cheung Kwok-choi, then deputy director of the Toronto trade office,
whose evidence supported Mr Tong's. But Professor Luk stood by his
testimony. He said after he was introduced to Mrs Law at the reception,
"I walked towards the table with her, still talking. We never stopped
talking until she decided not to talk to me anymore. I wasn't even aware
there was a seating plan for lunch." "Is there any reason
for you to correct your evidence as a result of these two statements?"
asked Mr Lee, referring to Mr Tong's and Mr Cheung's statements. "No, I
remember clearly what happened," he replied.

The ten plus years of star-chasing by Yang
Lijuan were noted by the media. The Guangdong-based <New
Express> said that a Beijing television's entertainment program went to
interview Yang three times in Lanzhou and reported on the starchasing career
of the Yang family. According to Yang and her mother, the television
station even promised to arrange a meeting with Andy Lau but they were not
able to deliver.

The Henan media <Dahe Daily> said
that the media had been part of Yang's dream. In April 2006, the CCTV
program <The Same Song> went to vist Yang to help her "achieve
her dream in a healthy way." Local Lanzhou media also tried to
help her realize her dream by finding psychologists and sociologists to help
her and to contact the Andy Lau fan club and management in order to get a
meeting with Andy Lau.

Apart from using their media power to help
Yang, the mainland media also offered financial support. <Southern
Metropolis Daily> arranged for Yang and her mother to stay in a
three-star hotel in Shenzhen after their Hong Kong visa had expired in order
to keep close contact with them. <Guangzhou Daily> also offered
help on lodgings. After Yang's father committed suicide, some media
offered Yang and her mother help on lodgings and transportation.

Yesterday at around 3pm, the Roosevelt Road
(Taipei) police station got a telephone from the Taipei National University
campus police station: "There is an emergency at the university.
Send people over!" The patrol police officers arrived on campus in
three minutes. The campus police said: "There are two men armed
with assault rifles at the School of Agriculture and they are holding thirty
students hostage." The patrol officers immediately called the
police station to ask for reinforcement. Fifty-five police officers
rushed to the scene wearing bullet-proof vests, steel helmets, shields,
pistols, M16 rifles and even the rarely seen Swiss-made SIG sniper's rifle and
the police helicopters were about to be summoned. When the reinforcement arrived at the location, they were met by
DPP legislators Lin Guo-ching and Lee Chen-nan, members of the police public
relations office and TV satellite broadcast vehicle(s). The legislators
said that this was a "planning exercise."

During the exercise, Lee Chen-nan used a dining fork as an assault rifle and
asked the students, "What would you do in this situation?" One
student said: "The university has given a card to each student with
telephone numbers for emergency situations. Apart from calling the
military service officer or the campus police, I don't know what else to
do." Lee and Lin then checked whether the students carried the
emergency notice card with them. A professor said: "Most people would not know how to act
in this situation. The worst part is that even after all this, those who
participated in the exercise still don't know what to do."

Lee Chen-nan gave a report card of 60 points. Lin Kuo-ching said that
the two campus police officers arrived on the scene armed only with
batons. They were "very brave" when they charged into the
building. If there were really armed criminals, they would be dead.

Lee Chen-nan and Lin Kuo-ching wait in front of
the School of Agriculture building for the arrival of the police. Lee
has a stop watch in hand.

When the police rushed to the scene, Lee and Lin told them that this was just
an exercise.

The two campus police officers who were made aware that this was just an
exercise went upstairs to "simulate" the search for the suspects.

Lee Chen-nan held out an dining fork and asked the students: "What would
you do it this were a Uzi?"

(BCC)
When informed about the public criticisms of his 'show,' Lee Chen-nan said:
"This is crazy! How can they say that? I'm such a serious
legislator and they criticize me? Is campus safety unimportant? It
is alright if TVBS is criticizing me. They can do that all
day." When informed that it was his DPP colleagues who are
criticizing him, he said: "This is a sectarian problem. The Su
Tseng-chang sect wants to take this opportunity to attack Lin Kuo-ching.
Meanwhile Lin Kuo-ching said that he was called to attend at the last moment
and when he got there, he reminded Lee Chen-nan not to disturb the
students. "Anyone who wants to make this into a sectarian problem
will be rejected by the people. If they do that, they will be ousted
sooner rather than later! What have I got to do with the Frank Hsieh
faction? They have too much time on hand if they want to politicize and
sensitize everything."

(ETTV)
From the Executive Yuan spokesperson: while the legislators have the right to
monitor the government, the methods must be appropriate. The Ministry of
Education workers accompanied the legislators to the simulated exercise and
they will be investigated by the Executive Yuan; ditto for the Taipei National
University administration. The police responded to a call and therefore
did not violate any procedure. The two legislators may have violated
Article 171 of the Criminal Law on making false statements and may be
subjected to not more than 1 year in jail or a fine under NT$300. The
legislators acted outside of the Legislative Yuan and are therefore not
protected by immunity.

Since October 2006, Zhang Jianping used the
Internet to access overseas reactionary website <Epoch Times> in order
to read information that incite subversion of the state authority and overthrow
the socialist system.

The above facts were confirmed through
Zhang Jianping's narrative and explanation. According to Article 2
Rule 20 of the <Regulations for the Safe Protection and Administration of
the Computerized Internet>, the subject will be issued a warning and be
forbidden to access the Internet for six months.

Should the defendant not concur with the
decision, he may appeal for an administrative review to the Changzhou city
public security bureau or the Changzhou city Wujin district people's
government within six days after receiving this document. Alternately,
he may proceed to file an administrative complaint at the Changzhou city
Wujin district people's court within three days.

This document was filled out and sent to
the person on this date.

The Changzhou city Wujin district public
security bureau.

[054] Hong
Kong Identity (04/18/2007) (Apple
Daily) The RTHK programme 議事論事
commissioned the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme to run a poll
on the self-identity of Hong Kong people. "Are you a Hong Kong
person or a Chinese person? Are you a Chinese person in Hong Kong or a
Hong Kong person in China? On a scale of 0 to 10, rate your degree of
identification with being a Chinese person. If you had to choose,
would you rather be a pre-1997 colonial subject or a post-1997 SAR
person?"

When the survey results came out, the newspapers took whatever they needed
selectively. The pro-Beijing newspaper had headlines that said:
"Almost 40% of Hong Kong people say they are 100% Chinese."
In the rating question, 38% gave 10 out of 10 and 80% gave between 6 to 10.

The other newspapers (including Apple Daily) highlighted the results of
colonial subjects versus SAR residents. 40% said that they want to
continue to be SAR residents, 30% said that they want to be colonial
subjects and another 20% said that either is fine with them.

Actually, there is no contradiction in "wanting to identify oneself as
Chinese" and "wanting to live as a colonial subject."
Even during the colonial era, most Hong Kong people regard themselves as
Chinese (except for a small number of elite Chinese). Even during the
wave of emigration around 1997 when many Hong Kong people obtained foreign
passports, their self-identity did not lessen because it is based upon
history, bloodline, culture and native land as opposed to politics,
political authority or political party. However, it is a mistake to
regard the self-identity as Chinese as being equivalent to identification
with the political rulers.

Why does anyone want to be a "colonial subject" again? That
would be due to the disappointments and setbacks in the post-colonial era
about freedom of speech, democracy, business-government collusion,
etc. Wanting to become "a colonial subject" again has less
to do with self-identity than discontent with the present conditions.

[053] All
Viagra All The Time (04/18/2007) (Apple
Daily) According to the new regulations designed to improve
advertising of medical products and services, all such advertisements will
be banned from the television prime time period (7pm-10pm). However,
since it is estimated that more than 100 million Chinese males have erectile
dysfunction, the advertisers are rushing in to seize the remaining time as
well as saturate other time periods.

At Sina.com, NetEase.com and other forums, netizens from places such as
Shenzhen, Dongguan, Hebei, Hubei, Wuhan and elsewhere are complaining that
the airwaves are being saturated with sex-related advertisements.
"I don't know what kind of world we live in. When I turn on the
television, I see either abortion ads or sex drugs." "It is all
the fault of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television."

(Apple
Daily) Here is an ad that appeared through the day on a
Shaanxi television station.
The advertisement is for an American product named Aobo (傲勃)
(="proud erection"). The advertisement features a doctor, a
foreign professor and many pretty smiling girls answering inquiries at a
telephone bank. When the reporter called up the number, he was told:
"If this is not a good medicine, would the television allow it to be
shown?" The reporter was also told that the State Food and Drug
Administration has approved production of this medicine which has more than
30 Chinese medical ingredients and is a lot more effective than
Viagra. The recommended initial treatment consists of taking 30 boxes
valued at 1,140 RMB. The product was endorsed by Wang Lin who is the
secretary-general of the Chinese Male Medicine Study Society and director of
the Urology Department at the Beijing Union Medical College Number 2
Hospital.

The reporter does not know whether the drug is effective or not, but he did
contact the Chinese Male Medicine Study Society, whose secretary-general is
named He Zhanju. According to He Zhanju, it is not the first time that
his job title has been misappropriated. Meanwhile, the Bejing Union
Medical College Hospital has denied that it has a Number 2 Hospital.

[052] Hong
Kong By The Numbers (04/18/2007) (HKU
POP) (1,009 persons interviewed April 2-10, 2007 about their
appraisal of local news media)

Credibility rating of local news media
in general (scale of 0 to 10): 5.94

Freedom of press in Hong Kong:65% satisfied
13% dissatisfied

Perceived the local news media in their reporting26% responsible
43% irresponsible

Perceived the local news media on freedom of press74% had given full play
22% had not given full play

Perceived the local news media on freedom of press68% had misused/abused
25% had not misused/abused

Perceived the local news media on self-censorhip50% had practiced
40% had not practiced

Perceived the local news media with respect to the HK SAR government32% had scruples in criticizing
64% had no scruples in criticizing

Perceived the local news media with respect to the Central Government61% had scruples in criticizing
33% had no scruples in criticizing

[051] Taiwan
By The Numbers (04/18/2007) (UDN)
In the 'primary' election of a candidate for the DPP, the votes by eligible
party members constitute part of the formula. There are presently
about 240,000 eligible party members who can vote and it is believed that
about 150,000 will show up to vote. Of these, it is believed that
10,000 to 20,000 are uncommitted so far while the balance are already
committed.

What is the distribution of the committed party members to the four
announced candidates? You can check with those candidates.

According to the office of Yu Shyh-kun, Yu Shyh-kun has 70,000 votes, Su
Tseng-chang has 35,000 and Frank Hsieh has 25,000.

According to the office of Su Tseng-chang, Su Tseng-chang has 50,000, Yu
Shyh-kun has 40,000 and Frank Hsieh has 35,000.

According to the office of Frank Hsieh, Su Tseng-chang has 50,000 to 60,000,
Yu Shyh-kun has 35,000 and Frank Hsieh has 30,000.

Vice-president Annette Lu declined to provide any data. But the three other
candidates believe that she has about 10,000.

The April 15 march ended at the main stage
on Ketagalan Boulevard. The organizers invited the various groups to
come on stage to express their support of the Lo Sheng Leprosarium.
Among the speakers was Hong Kong independent media reporter Susanna Cheung
Chui-yung. But when she got off the stage, she was immediately
showered with "concern" from the police. The police cited
the "Article 27 of the Entry/Exit and Immigration Law" and claimed
that her speech violated the terms of her application to enter Taiwan.
They informed Cheung that they were going to take her directly to the police
station for questioning. When others at the scene protested, the
police changed their minds and warned her: "Don't do this again or you
can be expelled" and made as if they wanted to arrest her. For a
foreign visitor to Taiwan, this type of state violence is especially
threatening.

Yet this is the typical trick that the
Taiwan government has always used against the foreigners that they
dislike. Eighteen years ago, the KMT government expelled Father Neil
Magill from Taiwan because of his involvement in the opposition and the
labor movement. After the DPP became the ruling party, they were even
worse. Apart from serious violations of human rights, they showed that
the Taiwan government is conservative and defensive under the government of
any ruling party.

After being threatened by the police,
Cheung Chui-yung tried to leave the scene quickly by walking towards the
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. The media which had been waiting the
whole afternoon seemed to have found their prey and quickly moved in.
They were faster than all the police officers and prosecutors. Some of
the demonstrators quickly "intercepted" the reporters so that
Cheung would not be harassed a second time. But a short but powerful
CTTV journalist broke through the cordon and chased her all the way in front
of the National Library. When he was blocked again, he howled:
"Let me film. I'm helping you!" When he could not get
his shot, he cursed out: "You students know nothing and you are just
causing trouble!" "What are these foreigners doing in
Taiwan!" Then he told the students: "Your actions interfere
with freedom of press and the right to gather news. I'm going to sue
you!"

Afterwards, we monitored CTTV News.
At the 11pm news show, there was nothing about the Lo Sheng march
whatsoever. At the midnight news show, there was one short
segment. In the one minute clip, three-quarters were about the Cheung
Chui-yung incident: "A reporter who was gathering news somehow lost her
control of emotions and got on stage to express her support." The
program also mentioned the police charge against her so-called
"illegal" activity without explanation the basis. The
closing remark was that this "left an imperfect little spot in a
peaceful march."

The state has employed
"isolation" and "expulsion" in accordance with the will
and power of the rulers ever since the establishment of the Lo Sheng Leprosarium
since inception and has continued to do so up until today. Meanwhile,
the media only look for sensationalism without questioning the logic or the
truth. They spent the entire afternoon in order to come up with
"the imperfect little spot." This is more than sheer
depravity.

[049] EasyFinder
Goes Free (04/17/2007) (Apple
Daily) In the matter of EasyFinder magazine publishing
photographs of 14-year-old Renee Lee of the singing group Cream that were
alleged to be "child pornography" (see Kiddie
Porn in Hong Kong), a magistrate has found the defendants not guilty
as charged.
Here is the reasoning used by the magistrate:

In issue 752 (June 21) of EasyFinder,
Renee Lee wore a flesh-colored bra to pose for photographs on the front
cover, page 25, page 42 and page 43. Apart from page 42, the
magistrate did not believe that there were any hints of her breasts or
nipples. The photograph on page 42 that drew the most attention
showed a shadow on the left breast which may hint at a nipple.
However, there was no such shadow on the right breast. In the
absence of further evidence, there was reasonable doubt as to whether this
was a nipple.

As for intent, the magistrate did not
perceive any sense of pornography as the story was a portrayal of the
growing-up process of a young girl in a weekly magazine that features
entertainment, gossip, fashion and gourmet food. While certain
language leaves room to be desired (e.g. "pretty face and mature body
that exudes the quality of a young girl" and "pretty face
attracts handsome boys but Renee also becomes the target of
perverts"), but this was not the basis of a judicial
decision.

The magistrate pointed out that the
content of the article was similar to the 2001 song <I'm not a girl,
not yet a woman> by Britney Spears. There will be differences in
opinions but these are news judgments and editorial decisions. While
this case has been controversial, there is no absolute answer on the
rights or wrongs. The magistrate believed that if anyone should
objectively read the article and look at the photographs, then the
conclusion is that this was no pornographic depiction. Therefore,
the defendants were found not guilty.

Meanwhile, the followping showed up in the
political gossip page in Apple
Daily. The relevance is that the EasyFinder case represented
the conclusion of one particular magistrate, who is human after all.
Another magistrate may rule differently and so what is meaning of rule of
law then?

Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference
member Siu Sin-por recently declared at the Hong Kong Development Forum
that Hong Kong judges have no standards in their decisions. Siu
cited the case in which several people were sentenced to one month in jail
for eating dog meat. Siu said that people eat dog meat in the New
Territories all the time and are usually fined lightly when caught.
But this judge imposed an unprecedented heavy penalty. Siu thought
that the judge ruled this way because he thought that eating dogs violates
the cultural standards of the colonial era in which dogs are humans'
favorite pets and not food. Meanwhile people eat dog meat in the
streets of Beijing. Therefore the cultural standards are often the
personal standards of judges.

Well, Siu may arouse pet lovers to go
marching in the streets with this kind of talk, and this will disrupt
social harmony and violate political correctness.

Q1. TVBS manufactured fake news in the gangster threat incident and NCC
fined TVBS and TVBS-N NT$1 million apiece. Do you think that this is
appropriate?52% appropriate
37% inappropriate
11% no opinion

Q2. TVBS manufactured fake news in the gangster threat incident and NCC
demanded TVBS to remove its general manager within seven days. Do you
think that it is appropriate for NCC to become involved in the operations of
a television channel?38% appropriate
52% inappropriate
10% no opinion

Q3. The Executive Yuan bypassed the supervisory body NCC to directly ask
for the closure of TVBS. Do you think that this is appropriate?24% appropriate
68% inappropriate
6% no opinion

Q4. The Executive Yuan issued an administrative order to relieve two NCC
members and asked the NCC spokesperson to step down. Do you think that
it is appropriate for the Executive Yuan to assert that its administrative
authority over the NCC?37% appropriate
54% inappropriate
9% no opnion

[047] Taiwan
By The 'Numbers' (04/16/2007) (TVBS)
Pursuant to the controversy raised by the unidentified 'green' poll that put
Frank Hsieh 18% points ahead of Su Tseng-chang, the Hsieh camp has released
its own internal poll that showed an even bigger lead.

When only the deep blue supporters (KMT, PFP, NP) are removed, Hsieh has
27.7% support and Su has 18.7%. When only the green supporters (DPP,
TSU) are counted, Hsieh has 44.4% support and Su 21.4% support. Thus,
Hsieh leads Su by 23% among the green supporters.

Meanwhile, the Su Tseng-chang campaign has also released their own internal
poll results. At least, they have identified that they had
commissioned MSRC (Master Survey &
Research Co.) to conduct this poll of 1,001 persons.

According to the survey, in the general population, Su Tseng-chang has 24.9%
support while Hsieh has 22.6% support. When the deep blue supporters
(KMT, PFP, NP) are removed, Su Tseng-chang has 24.5% s upport while Hsieh
has 23.5% support.

[046] Hankuang
23 (04/16/2007) Fresh from Taiwan official denials that its
report that the recent military exercises revolved around a hypothetical
scenario of internal rebellion in the event that Ma Ying-jeou loses the
presidential election in 2008, China
Times has moved ahead with yet another scenario in the next set of
military exercises. The hypothetical situation is that mainland China
has just launched a sudden attack on Taiwan in 2012. There were
several waves of guided missiles combined with fifth columnists in a
decapitation action against Taiwan leaders. The military exercises
also involved battles against the aircraft carrier task force of China.

What Chinese aircraft carrier? Thanks to Google Earth, the Chinese
aircraft carriers have been documented by netizens. Here they are:

Varyag (38.56'29.29" N and 121.38'37.65" E) This aircraft
carrier purchased from Ulkraine is presently docked in Dalian for refitting
(see Wikipedia
and VaryagWorld).
China Times said that the Taiwan military has determined that the Varyag
will be put into service within the next five years.

Kiev (39.09'18.48" N and 117.48'26.98 E) (You can visit the aircraft
carrier at Binhai Park,
which is a leisure and educational theme park in Tianjin).

And last and not least, there is the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in
Shanghai (31.06'17.74" N and 121.00'50.43 E). Oh, wait, why is
this ship locked inside a small lake (see Google
Maps)? That's because this is a model at the Oriental
Green Boat park.

The term "news plot" became
popular in journalism in recent years. "News" may be
plotted or planned, but the basic foundation should be premised upon the
truth. Once you depart from the truth, "news plotting"
becomes "plotting news" in order to achieve a certain publicity or
social effect.

... The "infected tea" case drew
broad attention. The reporter posed as a patient and prepared some tea
to be tested as urine at 10 hospitals. Six of the hospitals detected
infection by analyzing the tea. This was obviously a case of
"news plot."

But this type of "news plot"
contravenes scientific practice. Recently, the Ministry of Health
spokesperon quoted expert opinion and condemned the reporter for violating
professional ethicis. The medical equipment was designed specifically
to analyze a specific substance. If the equipment was designed for
urine analysis and tea is used instead, this equipment assumed that the
material is urine and will analyze it as such ... When the reporter
substitued tea for urine, this is a "deceptive" behavior, for
towards the hospital as well himself. He was hoping that the
conclusion would be "there is a problem in the urine" when in fact
there is none. Instead he got a report that there is "a problem
in the tea." So how can any logical conclusion be made about
potential problems if human urine were analyzed?

The news story about "the infected
tea" was basically biased. The reporter might have wanted to
monitor the quality of medical services and this might have been
well-intentioned. But he did not realize that his actions violates the
most fundamental medical knowlege and therefore came up with a biased
conclusion. This type of "news plot" has the objective
consequence of misleading the public.

Such a "news plot" is not an
isolated incident. For example, one reporter heard a rumor that
"red dye was being injected into watermelons" and the result was
that watermelon farmers in Henan, Hubei, Shandong and Ningxia were hit
by a public opinon "hurricane" with unsold crops rotting in the
fields. Other recent incidents include "Qiao Yubo had
quintuplets," "80-year-old woman gets pregnant,"
"Gaozhou Department of Industry and Commerce beat high school student
to death," "Peasant woman in Hanshan (Anhui province) swallowed
alive by python," etc. Although none of these stories stood up to
scrutiny, someone "planned" it and "hyped" them into
headline stories.

Why do these things happened? One
important reason is the so-called "eyeball economy." When
these hot stories appear, the media audience rises sharply (along with
advertising revenues). Besides, there are no real consequences: when
the truth is uncovered, the media only had to make an
"announcement" and "say sorry." There are no other
responsibilities, and the money is in the bank already.

[044] Big
Brother Is Filming You (04/16/2007) (Xinhua via 6park)
Beginning on April 5, the militia and patrol police officers in the Yuzhong
district of Chongqing city have been working with more than 100 camera
equipment sets. All the militia police had to do is prss a button and
the entire proceedings will be faithfully recorded.Case study: At 8pm on April 9, a militia police team handled a
civilian dispute, during which a citizen named Wang picked up a wooden chair
and hit another citizen. When the militia police attempted to stop
Wang, he claimed police brutality. When Wang was arrested, he claimed
that the other party had attacked him first and he was only acting in
self-defense, contrary to what other eyewitnesses said. But after
watching the video taken by the police camera, Wang admitted fault and paid
damages to the person that he injured.

[043] Taiwan
By The Numbers (04/16/2007) (China
Times) (Survey of 804 adults conducted on April 15, 2007. A
sample of telephone numbers were initially drawn from the Taiwan telephone
directory and then the last two digits of the telephone numbers are
randomized.

Here are the support levels for the four
announced presidential candidates from the Democratic Progressive Party:
22% Frank Hsieh
17% Su Tseng-chang
9% Annette Lu
2% Yu Shyh-kun
(None of the above: 8%; 42% expressed no opinion)

A poll at the end of February had Su at 26% and Hsieh at 16%.

If the supporters of the KMT, New Party and PFP are taken out of the sample
base, the rank order is virtually underchanged. The firm pan-blue
supporters do not have a good opinion of any of the four, but that is not a
shocking revelation.

Premier Su Tseng-chang's office today doubted
the exclusive report coming from SETV (San Li) television that a Democratic
Progressive Party poll showed Frank Hsieh leading Su Tseng-chang 53.7% versus
35.3%. "18%? This is outrageous. This is a public
opinion poll that cannot be placed out under the sunshine." The DPP
subsequently declared that they had not conducted any public opinion poll
whatsoever. This caused SETV to change the headline from "DPP
poll" to "green camp poll." Still, Su's people wondered:
"We do not challenge San Li's position and we do not challenge former
premier Hsieh's position. But we are seriously concerned about the other
motives of the people who provided this poll result." Meanwhile,
Frank Hsieh said: "I don't know about the SETV situation. We have
done our own poll and we had an even bigger lead than this!"

Meanwhile, Yahoo! ran an online poll which is
the second annual "Survey of the ideal media." This online
survey is based upon a stratified sample of 5,599 registered Yahoo members age
12 to 65. While this is better than a pop-up online survey, it is still
noted that the projected universe is the collection of all registered Yahoo
members and not the general population. Within the category of
television, here are the results:

SETV came out on top at 16%. TVBS was second at 15% (see story below
about TVBS). You would think that television channels that are
consistently biased and inaccurate would be rejected by the general
public. What if they do very well among the public instead? This
is not a Taiwan-only problem (reference: Fox News).

Some 500 demonstrators yesterday took to the
streets in Taipei, demanding that the government shut down the private TVBS
cable network for showing a gun-brandishing gangster in a recent crime
story. The protesters marched down the streets to TVBS's office
building, as they displayed placards reading, "the Cabinet must toughen
up." They briefly scuffled with riot police, who tried to stop
the protesters from pelting the TVBS building with missiles. They
criticized TVBS -- invested by the Hong Kong-based TVBS -- for lacking
journalistic professionalism. They charged that the cable network has
been serving as China's organ, creating sensational stories to intimidate
the Taiwan
society.

The latest saw TVBS air an exclusive
footage of a gun-brandishing gangster who issued a death threat for his
former gang boss. But it turned out that the footage was staged and
filmed by one the network's reporters, who was summarily fired by TVBS
following the revelation.

The National Communications Commission
(NCC), despite pressure from the Cabinet to have TVBS's license revoked,
only fined the network NT$2 million, and demanded Lee be replaced as TVBS
president. Lee has stepped down as the TVBS president, but he
continues to host the popular talk show. Despite calls for boycotting
TVBS, the ratings of Lee's show shot up on the night when the channel
admitted making a mistake. Lee lengthened the program that night,
conducting soul-searching talks with his guests about media ethics.

The protesters, including more than a dozen
DPP elected officials, professors and others from 26 civilian groups, also
demanded the NCC stop operating. They also demanded the government
revoke the licenses of all "China-funded" TV stations.

Was this a protest against
unethical/unprofessional journalism? Perhaps, but there sure were a lot
of election campaign banners and standards being bandied around. The
title of this post was based upon one of the banners: "TVBS China's
Running Dog." Other banners are: "TVBS: Source of chaos in
Taiwan" and "TVBS denigrates Taiwan."

[040] The
Mizuno Shoes (04/14/2007) (The
Standard) Here is one line of inquiry by the Hong Kong Police
in the case of police constable Tsui Po-ko
moonlighting as bank robber:

... detectives found the Mizuno sneakers
worn by the bank robber were sold at 40 outlets in Hong Kong, including at
two police facilities, but investigations produced nothing. Since they
were convinced by then the perpetrator was a police officer, detectives put
up posters in police stations and advertised in the police newspaper, Offbeat,
encouraging colleagues to bring in their old sneakers. Twelve officers
produced shoes, 11 of which were Mizunos. None matched forensic evidence.

(SCMP)

"We tried to lure and trap the
suspect by giving out an offer of a HK$300 coupon for the sportswear shop
in the police sports and recreation club in exchange for old Mizuno
running shoes of four specific models," he said. "We posted ads
in [the police newsletter] OffBeat and stuck posters in police
stations. Three of the four models were not sold in Hong Kong and the
other was the one the robber wore." The trap was not
successful, although 12 officers gave up their old shoes for the coupon.

I recommend the "elite" in the
Hong Kong Police be recommended to enter in all the competitions for
inventions all over the world as well as the Nobel Peace Prize.

This plan is far too creative! It
is so creative that the suspect can be apprehended under this condition:
the perpetrator is as stupid as the person who came up with the idea -- an
absolute genius who is an absolute idiot.

After hauling away several hundred
thousand dollars in a bank robbery, would you covet a HK$300 coupon?
Will a robber who had such a meticulous plan fall for this stupid
trick? What is the likelihood? What is the likelihood that
this will arouse the suspicion of the principal instead?

[039] Two
Photographs (04/14/2007) Here are two blog posts from
Shenyang-based photojournalist Maohair.

(Maohair)
Ever since yesterday afternoon, this photograph has been on my mind.
Of all the photographs taken during the court trial of the murderer Zhang
Xianguang, this is undoubtedly the best. But I was not the
photographer. I was there to attend the trial, but I was not there the whole
time. So I missed the opportunity to take this photograph, either
because I was not there or else I was there but failed to be alert at this
instant. When I woke up this morning, the first thing that I did was
to go and buy every newspaper that has the story because I wanted to know
who took this photograph and when. Unfortunately, none of the
newspapers had this photograph. I suspected that the photographer only
supplied inferior photographs to his newspaper and then sold off his best
one to a national news agency.

(Maohair)
Among all the photographs about the Zhang Xianguang case, the following one must be
relatively awesome. But this photograph of mine did not make me feel
awesome. Instead, I was depressed for a long time afterwards. On the day
before this photograph was taken, two reporters from another media outlet in
my city were thrown out by the old lady. I don't know if those two
reporters attempted to interview the old lady in an accusatory tone, but I
know that even if they were nice, she would have chased them out: "My
son committed the crime. I didn't. Why are you looking me up
for?"

On the day that I took this photograph, I showed up as "Zhang
Xianguang's good friend" to visit "our mother." In the
view of the woman, Zhang was a good son. "... the crimes that he committed are
enough for several death sentences. He deserves to die. Since he
killed people, he should pay with his own life. I don't blame
him. The first time he got into a fight, it was to defend his mother
from someone who called her a beggar ... I will not go to see him. I'm
afraid that I can't take it. Even if he is guilty, he is still my
flesh ..." On that day, the old lady cried and I cried with
her.

Earlier in March, I pretended that I was a family member of a victim of the
February 28 case and took photographs of the dead. As I exited the
funeral home, I felt elated because I knew that my photographs constitute evidence
that will send those negligent policemen in Jiamusi to hell. Several
months later, I stepped out of the home of Zhang's mother and I could not
decide whether I was awesome or shameless after pretending that I was a
friend of Zhang Xianguang.

In Jiangmen and Zhuhai (Guangdong
province), mama-sans are offering virgins to Taiwanese businessmen.
The mama-sans go into the rural villages to find underage girls and bring to
the city for the Taiwanese businessmen, who are acting under the belief that
virgins can improve their health and/or fortunes.

Here is the an eyewitness account.

In the five-star Ligong Hotel night club,
there is an endless stream of Taiwanese male patrons. The youngish
mainland girl named 'Chen Qing' sat alone in the corner of a suite.
She was dressed plainly and wore no make-up. Her eyes had a scared
look as she scanned her surroundings. As such, she looked very
different from the other girls in the suite.

The mama-san named Ah Ju entered the suite
and presented Chen Qing to the Taiwanese men: "This girl just came from
the rural area to work in a factory. She is a virgin. I
guarantee that she will bleed when her hymen is popped. So if you big
bosses want to change your fortune, you can try her."

The Taiwanese man named Tianci from the
restaurant trade was somewhat intoxicated already. After hearing Ah
Ju's introduction, he pushed aside the girl that he was just pawing and
turned around to evaluate the shy little girl. He said lustily:
"I like her type. How much?" The mama-san Ah Ju said
quickly: "Only 3,000 yuan and the little girl will go with you.
If you like, you can keep her for a few more days."

Another Taiwanese man said:
"Damn! You have no conscience. She is still just a little
girl. She does not appear to be 18 years old yet." Tianci
had his rationale: "That makes her really fresh. She can change
my fortune and help me earn big money. Haven't you heard?"
Tianci then reached for Chen Qing, who instinctively slapped his hand away.

Later that night at around 1am or so,
Tianci gave Ah Ju 500 yuan as commission and he took Chen Qing out. On
the way back to the hotel, Chen Qing said: "I haven't had dinner
yet. Can you get me some food first?" Tianci put off his
lust and took Chen Qing and his friends out to have a midnight snack.
While eating, Chen Qing disclosed: "I work at the lighting decoration
factory nearby. Big Sister Ah Ju came to our home last week and told
my parents that she wants to take me her to work at the factory. I
could hear 800 yuan a month. So my family let me come here with
her. They are still waiting for me to wire money back. I have
just turned eighteen years old. I am a Tujia tribe minority member
from Zhangjiajie (Hunan province). We are farmers back home. In
order to earn money for my younger brother to attend school, I came here
with Big Sister to work at the factory. In order to buy clothes and
food, I had to borrow money from Big Sister. To repay the debt, they
encouraged me to sell my virginity." Chen Qing sounded very
convincing.

Tianci brought Chen Qing back to the hotel
room. Obviously, he had to make her spread her legs for him to
"inspect." It was quite disgusting and made Chen Qing very
uncomfortable, but she had to endure it.

After the deed was done, Chen Qing did not
sit and sob while holding the blanket as the movies often show. She
calmly got up and cleaned herself. Then she used the blanket to cover
her face and showed only her eyes. She told Tianci: "Work begins
at 7am at the factory. You have to take me back. If I get back
late, they will penalize my pay!" At 630am, Tianci took her back
to the factory.

[Blogger's comment: Is this a true
story? The general phenomenon is accepted to be true, but the evidence
shown in this case (namely, the photographs) showed that a crime has been
committed (at a minimum, an act of prostitution; at its worst, sexual
intercourse with a minor). Any eyewitness (including the reporter) is an
accessory to this crime.]

[037] Eating
Human Fetuses in China (04/13/2007) (The
Sun) According to a notice from the Obscene Articles Tribunal
in Hong Kong,
an inspection of the content of Issue No. 304 of Taiwan's <Next
Weekly> resulted in the magazine being classified as Category III obscene
due to the front cover article about eating babies in China. The story
was about some mainlanders believing that eating human fetuses can improve
looks and heal diseases, and therefore they purchase dead fetuses from
hospitals for consumption. The article tells about the prices and method of eating,
including photographs of someone slicing off baby flesh. Under Hong
Kong law, the Taiwan publisher is a foreign entity that cannot be
prosecuted, but the local distributor may be prosecuted and will face a maximum
penalty of HK$ 1 million and three years in prison.

In January this year at a dinner of Taiwan
business people in Shanghai, the women were gossiping about how to improve
one's looks. A Liaoning helper Sister Lau interjected: "In our
hometown, the best cosmetological material is placenta. It is better
than taking any injection or medicine." Sister Liu recalled the
hardship of the Cultural Revolution era: "At the time, we lacked
everything. Who can eat meat? When you want to eat meat, you contact
the rural midwife to ask for placenta to make soup or dumplings ... when I
got married, I was frail and the family elders found a dead baby to make
dumplings and soup for me ... Recently, I have stomach pains but they
couldn't diagnose the cause at the hospital. So my hometown folks are
gathering 'stuff' for me when I return home during the Lunar New year."

Our special correspondent begged Sister Lau
to go to witness the occasion. Sister Lau said, "Nowadays
everybody has enough money to pay. But the supply is controlled by the
hospital and you have to get in line. Fortunately, I have relatives
working there and she will put some good stuff aside for me." The
good stuff refers to older fetuses which have more flesh; furthermore, males
are better stuff than females.

One month later, Sister Lau was told that
the merchandise had arrived and frozen in the icebox. So the special
correspondent went to Liaoning with Sister Lau and they proceeded to the
place of the cook, who is a rural woman experienced in the process.
When they got there, the cook took out a small paper box which contained
some frozen meat. When the wrapping was removed, a 30cm long baby
fetus with eyes closed appeared. The cook then defrosted the fetus
under running water while murmuring: "The body is big. It seemed
to five or six months old ..." Then she exclaimed: "Oh, it's
a boy. It's a boy. That is rare." Sister Lau
explained: "We got this because of the hospital contact.
Otherwise, you cannot buy this with any amount of money. The mother of
this baby is a university student who was forced to abort by the
school."

Then the cook used the long knife to carve
off slices of flesh from the thighs of the male fetus. "Fetuses
have tender flesh ... but there is not much flesh except for the
thighs." Then the cook proceeded with the usual method of making
dumplings by chopping up the meat and mixing it with chives and
ginger. Meanwhile, a soup was being made with the placenta. When
the food was presented on the table, Sister Lau quickly grabbed a dumpling,
took a bite and then proclaimed: "So tasty!" From outward
appearance, the fetus dumpling did not look very different from regular
dumplings except the meat was more reddish. She offered the dumplings
to the others, but everybody else was so scared that their faces turned white
with fear. But the cook pleaded with Sister Lau: "My
daughter-in-law has not been feeling well. Can you let her have the
rest of the fetus?" Sister Lau did not agree. Instead, she
took the remains of the fetus and burned it in the countryside while she
offered prayers.

[Blogger's comment: Is this item
accurate? I have serious doubts, because I would have heard about this
type of thing if the practice was as prevalent as asserted. Nevertheless this item
is translated here because it illustrates the different attitudes towards
censorship in Hong Kong versus Taiwan. In Taiwan, there has apparently
not even been a blink. In Hong Kong, it was classified as Category 3
obscene material. There is no absolute right or wrong about this,
because different communities have different standards.]

Donald Tsang was elected and he also won
landslide support in public opinion. Thus, the plan of the
pan-democrats to demonstrate the absurdity of the small-circle election
through public opinion became a thorough failure.

During the period of the Chief Executive
election, the public opinion polls showed that less than 20% of the
respondents supported Alan Leong for Chief Executive. Why? One
explanation might be that the citizens are no longer supporting the
development of democracy. But in an opinion poll last year, 60% of the
respondents supported universal suffrage for the Chief Executive election
and 65% supported universal suffrage for the Legislative Council
election. While public opinion can change quickly, another periodic
HKU public opinion showed that the citizens did not show any big change in
their satisfaction with the rate of progress of democracy.

At the same time, the public opinion poll
during the Chief Execution election showed an interesting phenomenon.
Even among those who claimed to be democrats, more than half supported the
re-election of Donald Tsang. Most of the time, the support level Alan
Leong was between 20% to 30%. This shows that those citizens who
support the development of democracy do not necessarily support Alan
Leong. The gap between these two levels is far greater than the
pan-democrats imagined ... Although the people of Hong Kong want democracy
to come quicker, many of them do not identify with the pan-democrats and not
many of them support the pan-democrats' candidate for Chief Executive.

These data may explain the success/failure
of the pan-democrats in the past. The good news is that the mainstream
opinion is leaning towards democratization and the value of democracy has
taken roots in the minds of the people of Hong Kong. But the
pan-democrats have been unable to convert the belief in democracy into their
own political capital. Even among those who support democracy, there
is not much confidence in the pan-democrats.

How did this happen? The
pan-democrats cannot blame the citizens for lacking any feeling of
democracy. The problem lies with the pan-democrats themselves.

Within the democracy movement in Hong Kong,
there has always been the struggle between the extreme and moderate
paths. The pan-democrats have not given up on the extreme path, so
that the moderates are often being tagged with the labels of
"compromised" and "lacking principles." The debate
over the paths led to a great many squabbles of which the citizens are tired
of. Under attacks from inside and outside, the moderate pan-democrats
often slip up when they participate in the system and this has damaged the
overall image of the pan-democrats for the citizens, who think that they are
a political force incapable of accomplishing anything of practical value.

This debate of the paths is
unnecessary. Both paths are needed in the democracy movement.
The extreme path can highlight the absurdity of the system and inspire the
sense of democracy within citizens. The moderate path can make
breakthroughs in the spaces within the system so that the pan-democrats can
learn the basics of policy-making in order to prepare to govern. The
choice between the two paths is not a moral choice, but it depends on the
strategic needs.

Since 60% of the people are steadily
supporting democratization, the people of Hong Kong have moved beyond the
stage of needing to be enlightened. The citizens who support democracy
do not need someone to tell them how absurd the system is or how valuable
democracy is. They want to see more politicians bring democratic
methods to improve governance. In an unpublished research study by
Professor Chan Kin-man and this writer, the focus of the narrative of
democracy in Hong Kong public opinion was found to have shifted in recent
years from values such as equality and freedom to the practical issues of
governance. The citizens who support democracy want to see the
democracy movement move towards a rational, moderate path. They hope
that the movement would turn from street warriors to shadow governors.
Unfortunately, the pan-democrats do not want to give up on the extreme path
and they keep lingering on the moral high ground. The biggest reason
why the pan-democrats are losing points is that they are falling behind
strategically and they have fallen out of line with the expectations of the
citizens.

Although Alan Leong's participation in the
Chief Executive election did not reverse the bad situation, at least he made
a small step down the rational and moderate road. The pan-democrats
need to follow through with Alan Leong's election promise of setting up a
shadow cabinet in order to gain the field of vision in governance and let
the citizens see that the pan-democrats are potential governors. This
is how the pan-democrats can recover the lost ground and elevate the
development of democracy higher.

In the evening of November 30 last year
during study time, the female teacher Yang found the male student Liu
playing with his mobile telephone. She wanted to confiscate the mobile
telephone, but he refused. So she said that she can "send him
home with a teacher's note" (which is tantamount of dismissal).
He was scared and handed over the mobile telephone to her. But during
the process, he spit on the ground (which he claimed was innocuous but she
might have taken it to be contempt). She then demanded that he erase
the sputum on the ground. Since he did not have a paper towel, he
asked: "Can I just lick it up for you?" Yang agreed
and then Liu got down on his knee and licked up the sputum. On the day
after the incident, the school advised Liu to quit. Earlier this year,
Liu suied the school and teacher demanding damages to the amount of 50,000
RMB.

What was Yang's explanation? She said
that she wanted Liu to fetch the mop to clean up the floor. But Liu
said petulantly: "Can I just lick it up?" She thought that
Liu was being provocative again and so she said: "You are a high school
student. You know what to do." But she did not anticipate
that Liu would actually get down on one knee and bend down to lick it
up. She said: "The whole process took 3 to 5 seconds."
When she saw that, she quickly pulled him up. She said: "Liu
acted so quickly that I did not have time to react. I have never seen
anything like this in my many years of work in the education field."

At the court hearing yesterday, Yang
suddenly claimed that she was experiencing cardiac discomfort and asked
permission from the judge to take her medicine. The judge announced a
recess of 5 minutes. Liu had been quiet the whole time until that
moment, but he suddenly got up and went over the Yang. Yang sobbed and
said that she had been under a lot of pressure over this incident. Liu
hugged Yang's shoulder and asked her to take care of her health.
Suddenly, Liu cried: "Mama" and began to cry. Then the two
embraced.

After the short recess, Liu's lawyer asked
for the case to be withdrawn. "When a student sues a teacher, it
is like a child suing the parents. There is no winner or loser.
Liu and his father have consented to withdraw all complaints against teacher
Yang and the school." The judge agreed to the motion to the
applause of the spectators. Liu told Yang: "I was not being
sensible. Teacher Yang, I want to say three words to you: 'I am
sorry.'" Yang said: "It's alright. It's alright,
child." Then the two walked out of the courtroom hand in
hand.

For the mainland tourists, they must be
prepared to be 'butchered' the moment that they sign on to a tourist group.

"Within the industry, these tourist
groups are known as 'piggie groups.' This means that they are easily
taken advantage of. The tourists are taken to many watch shops in the
same district in order to do comparison shopping. In truth, the watch
shops are in collusion and their prices are quite similar. This
creates the impression for the mainland tourists that the fake watches are
really worth the listed price." According to a watch shop worker,
these mainlanders join the tourist groups for several hundred dollars.
In turn, the travel agency 'sells' the tourist to the tour guide at two
hundred dollars per head (note: the travel agency expects the tour guide to
pay them, not the other way around!). So the tour guide's earnings
depend on how much the mainland tourist buys.

The first two or three days that the
mainland tourist spends in Hong Kong is on shopping. Only the last one
or two days are for sightseeing and free movement. The shopping trip
usually begins with jewelry and watch shops, because the spending level is
higher. Within the industry, this is known as 行三站
("making the three stops" which are the jewelry shop, the watch
shop and then the department store). The industry practice is that the
jewelry store will schedule the visiting times, reserving the best times for
the more affluent tourist groups from Beijing and Shanghai, and the
other times for tourist groups from less urbanized areas.

The tour guide's principal income is on
sales commissions from the purchases made by the tourists, and this varies
from 8% to 20% depending on the past performance of the tour guide.
For example, if a tourist purchases $100 of merchandise at a store, the shop
will give $8 to $20 to the tour guide and another $20 to $30 to the travel
agency. The shop gets as little as half the sales price.

The watches sold by these shops are mostly
worthless or basically 'no-name' 'self-made' brands. The shop sales
people will boast that this is one of the top 10 most famous watches in the
world. The shop will have some 'shill' making big purchases to set
examples for the mainland tourists.

There exists a quota system between the
tour guide and the travel agency. This means that the travel agency
requires the tour guide to achieve a certain spending amount from his
group. If the tour guide fails to achieve the level, the next group
will be given to other more capable tour guides. "Anyway, as soon
as the tourist group steps out of the shop, the tour guide and the travel
agency will know the total spending by the group immediately. If the
quota has not been achieved, the group will move to other shops to do more
shopping until the sales quota has been reached."

In order to make the tourists spend money,
the tour guides will resort to hard and soft tactics. For example, if
some tourists refuse to get off the bus, they will turn the air-conditioner
(or heater) up to make it cold (or hot). If the tourists still refuse
to behave, they will cancel the sight-seeing and park the bus at wayward places like
the Kowloon City Pier. Sometimes, they even threaten not to provide
hotel rooms.

When a jewelry/watch shop attains wide
notoriety, it will close down, get a name change and re-open. The
Royal Jewelry involved in this case opened up only in August last year after
its previous identity received too many complaints. The parent company
was registered to two females named Fan and Chu living in a public housing
estate. When the reporter contacted the householder at the address,
the person claimed not to know who Fan and Chu are.

[033] KFC
Laid Us Off (04/11/2007) (KDNet)
3.1 RMB, 3.6 RMB, 3.8 RMB, 4.5 RMB, 4.7 RMB ... this is what the hourly wage
increased that dismissed worker Tang Xiaoqing received from KFC in
Guangzhou. "I treated this as a full-time job, but it was the
same as a part-time job," said Tang Xiaojing. At first, she was
hired as a full-time worker by KFC, with pension, medical and unemployment
insurance. But her wages were based upon the number of hours
worked. Tang Xiaoqing said that at the KFC where she worked, only the
six managers were full-time workers and can receive the basic wages as well
as corresponding benefits required by the law. All the 50 plus workers
like herself receive hourly wages without paid holidays and vacations,
without rewards and bonuses, without sick leave, without personal leave and
receive nothing if they want time off.

Tang Xiaojing began to work at KFC on March 26, 1999. For her years,
she worked diligently and her work performance has always been excellent
without any major mistakes. "I am unemployed. But I should
be completely protected by the law because I qualify completely as a
worker. My work was full-time, so how come I do not have the treatment
for full-time workers?"

The company requires that a worker not work more than 167.4 hours per
month. Any overtime hours would be paid at 1.5 times the hourly wage;
if the number of hours exceed 200, the additional hours would be paid at 2
times the hourly wage. Tang Xiaojing said: "We have never
received twice the hourly wage, because the restaurant will shift our hours
to the next month."

43-year-old Tang Xiaoqing received a <Notice that the labor contract will
not be extended upon expiration> on March 19. A restaurant manager
told her that the contract would not be renewed not because her work
performance was poor, but because she has worked there too long (more than
seven years).

Previously, the restaurant had "dismissed" her co-worker
51-year-old Wang Fangxiu for the same reason. "She left in
January. She was one month short of ten years of work."

The reporter leaned that the <Labor Contract Law (Draft)> that is
about to be passed will pay attention to the phenomenon of giving short
labor contracts with a article that states "when the worker has been
working for the employer for ten years or is within ten years of retirement
age, the employer shall sign an 'labor contract of unspecified duration.'
with the worker."

Tang Xiaojing believes that KFC dimissed them for a common reason because
the company should have to employ her until she retired if the <Labor
Contract Law (Draft)> should be passed.

According to All-China Federation of Trade Union sources, Tang Xiaoqing case reflects the following
problems:
(1) Tang Xiaoqing is an unemployed person who was a laborer and should be
protected by labor laws. She should have a laborer contract, but the
employer only signed a labor duty contract. A labor duty contract is
not appropriate for laborers.
(2) Tang Xiaoqing is a laborer who should enjoy the legal benefits of
full-time workers. During the past eight years, she never received
full-time benefits, she had no holidays or vacation day, she had no paid
vacation, she had no annual bonus, she had no pension.
(3) During the eight years that Tang Xiaoqing worked, she signed 16
contracts with KFC. But Tang Xiaoqing had received only 3 contracts,
of which she personally signed only 2 of them. The others were signed
on her behalf by managers without her knowledge or consent.
(4) During the six years between 1999 and 2005, Tang Xiaoqing never received
any overtime payment for work on nationally designated holidays.

[032] Gao
Tianfu Refuses Legal Counsel (04/10/2007) In the follow-up to
the case of Gao Yingying, her father Gao
Tianfu is presently on trial for creating false evidence to false implicate
others. Specifically, he is being accused of smearing his own sperm on
the underwear of his daughter Gao Yingying to prove that she was raped and
killed by persons unknown. From KDNet:

Wang Cailiang is a well-known lawyer who is
the managing director of his own law firm in Beijing. He and his
assistant had been to Xiangfan city eight time previously on the Gao Tianfu
case.

On the afternoon of April 3, he flew to
Xiangfan with a great deal of worry. "Gao Tianfu's case will be
heard tomorrow, but nobody has informed me. What is happening
now?" Wang Cailiang received a telephone from a police friend who
told him: Gao Tianfu's case will be on trial! That telephone call
should have come the procuratorate or Gao Tianfu's family, but he was never
called.

On April 2, the news on the Internet was
that the Gao Tianfu case will be heard in court on April 4. So Wang
Cailiang flew over to Xiangfan. When he saw Gao Tianfu on the morning
of April 4, he found that Gao refused to accept his pro bono service to
defend him in court.

Gao Tianfu told Wang Cailiang: "I'm
innocent. I don't need any lawyer to defend me." At his
hotel, Wang explained to the reporter that Gao felt that way because he
believed that he was innocent. "An innocent man does not need a
lawyer." "If I hired a lawyer, doesn't that mean that I
admit that I am guilty?" In Gao Tianfu's mind, only a guilty
person needs to hire a lawyer. "He applied the logic to himself
and therefore got the idea that hiring a lawyer is tantamount to admission
of guilt."

Wang Cailiang is the outside lawyer that
Gao's sister obtained for him. He is the only lawyer who was involved
deeply in the case. In spite of Gao Tianfu's outright rejection, Wang
Cailiang still showed up in court to fight for the chance to defend
him. But up until the end of the hearing, Gao Tianfu did not apply for
Wang Cailiang to defend him. ...

Wang Cailiang said: "This shows that I
have to make the law more commonly known. If you are innocent, you
don't need a lawyer; if you guilty, you need a lawyer. This is the
typical behavior of someone who does not know the law. This shows that
he needs to learn about the law and I need to make the law more commonly
known."

[Blogger's comment: In four years of living in Hong Kong, I have not seen a
member of the People's Liberation Army. How can I say that I am
satisfied or dissatisfied? Since I am deemed 'clueless' on electoral
politics, I'll leave those who have a 'clue' to explain the ratings for the
Legco. Why are they deemed worse than the PLA?]

[030] Ride
A Taiwanese (04/10/2007) (ETToday)
The American website Cafepress is selling a series of t-shirts with the
words "Save a horse" and "Ride a Taiwanese." This
is based upon the song "Save a horse, ride a cowboy" that contains
a sexual innuendo. Taiwan netizens are complaining and scholars have
indicated that this is an insult to Taiwan. But Cafepress has not
decided whether to remove the product
line.

[029] The
Medals of Marathoner Ai Dongmei (04/10/2007) On April 9,
former female marathoner Ai Dongmei wrote on her Sina.com
blog:

[in translation] In order to survive,
I will have to sell my prize medals.

My lawsuit has not reached a resolution
after several years. I have not gotten my back wages. My life is
in desperate straits. In order to feed my family, I have decided to go
into business. I don't know what I can do, but I decided to sell
clothing because I know something about that. I haven't done anything
else before, but I have sold clothing. There is a practical problem
which is causing me a headache. That is money: money to rent a store,
money to buy clothes, etc. I don't know what to do. Where will I
find that money? Earlier, my husband's 300 RMB monthly pay was cut off
by the Railroad Sports Association. Neither one of us are working and
we have to raise the child and pay the rent.

So I thought about the prize medals.
I trained in sports for so many years and these medals are all I have
left. They were my spiritual support through my sporting life.
If I did not reach this stage, I would not sell them. When I earn
enough money, I hope to buy them back. I don't know how much they are
worth. But here are the photos. If you are interested, please
send mail to aidonmei123@sina.com.

First place medal,
1999 Beijing International Marathon

So what is one blog post among the output of
40 million Chinese bloggers? Who is going to know? Except Ai
Dongmei was a world-class athlete and the mainstream media picked the story up
immediately. Ai Dongmei is presently selling clothes on the roadside,
and the media followed her around.

At 2pm, Ai Dongmei, husband Wang Qihai and
daughter Yaoyao were in the Tongzhou district of Beijing city. They
laid down the clothes and said: "This is 5 dollars, this is ten dollars
..." Wang began to turn on the gas and make popcorn. But a
white van came along to park and the driver told them to move. They
set up again ten meters away. In another ten minutes, a man came out
of the store and told them to move. So they moved underneath a tree.

In 90 minutes, nobody made any inquiries
about clothing. Wang sold one bag of popcorn. Since there were
too many people gawking at her, Ai Dongmei told her husband that she would
take the child home for a while. A hour later, she returned and Wang
gave her the good news: "I just sold a 15 RMB suit." Shortly
afterwards, Ai Dongmei sold a 20 RMB child pants. At 18:30pm, the girl
was crying and so the couple closed shop. Two clothing items plus four
bags of popcorn netted them 10 RMB for the day.

... The man who ordered the couple to move
was puzzled when told who Ai Dongmei is: "How did the winner of the
Beijing International Marathon end up like this?"

The massive mass media coverage hit at the
Railroad Sports Association. According to a worker there reached by
Beijing News -- it was all a misunderstanding. She said: "Ai
Dongmei made contribution to the team and the country. If there are any
problems, she should contact the unit directly. Setting up a street
stall and selling her medals are 'ill-considered.'" As for Wang's
300 RMB monthly pay that was cut off, the worker said that "it was a
clerical mistake, because Wang is entitled to 380 RMB and he will receive all
the back wages."

At Southern
Metropolis Daily, Ai Dongmei told the media: "I never imagined
that there would be such a huge impact!" (我没想到有这么大的影响力！).

This is a well-known paradigm. A
blogger writes about a personal story of injustice and unfairness, the
mainstream media pick it up and there is a happy ending. There are three
other considerations. First, if the blogger was not as famous as Ai
Dongmei, would the mainstream media care? Secondly, if the case was
about some sensitive politics (e.g. lawyer Gao Zhisheng) instead of a sports
figure, would the mainstream media dare? Thirdly, if you don't have a
blog, would you have any voice?

State Production Safety Supervision
Administration director Li Yizhong said in an interview that there are no
government departments or officials who are not monitored by the
media. The media are not the central disciplinary committee, they are
not the State Audit Bureau, they are not an investigative team and you
cannot require that they be correct in every word that they say. As
long as there are supporting facts, they deserve a high degree of attention
(People's Daily, April 9).

As a media worker, I can tell you how
important director Li's attitude about "not requiring every word of the
media to be right" is for watchdog journalism! Logically, the
media watchdog reports are gathered after the fact and it is extremely
difficult to restore all the details of the original incident. Every
incident has its process, and the initial understanding may ultimately be
shown to be "inaccurate." Therefore, for the purpose of fulfilling
the watchdog function of journalism, it is sufficient to be correct on the
overall story and establish the principal facts.

Regrettably, in the face of media
criticism, certain government departments and officials do not exhibit the magnanimity
and restraint that they ought to have. On the contrary, they seize on
a few minor details and counter-attack the media with their powers.
They say that that they will sue the reporters. Thus, a short while
ago, the Shanxi Jianxian county deputy mayor who was reported to have said
"How can you take a promise seriously?" decided to evade the fact
that more than 100 peasants were not paid their back wages despite his
promise and wanted to sue the reporter instead.

I learned from a friend whose job was to do
"post-crisis management" against media criticism the following
"reactions" from certain government departments. I don't
know whether to laugh or cry:

Our district government only allowed the
department heads or more senior cadres to buy houses at below market
prices "to the extent that the policies permit." Besides
the land developer was willing to go along. So how can you accuse us
with abuse of authority?

You just reported yesterday that the
traffic police officers were arbitrarily issuing fines, and you have
another report today. This make it look like there are no good
people left in our system. Are you deliberately looking for trouble?

Our Safety Supervisory Department took
action as soon as you exposed the mining disaster. How can you say
that we did nothing before this?

The school got the students to go back to
count the number of transient residents living near their homes. How
can you say that this is like forcing the rooster to lay eggs?
Roosters do not lay eggs, but are you sure that students don't know how to
count transient residents?

At a certain dinner, I heard a certain man
in charge of media relations for the government leak the following
"secret": "Even if you are wrong, you must 'lash back.'
If we don't apply some pressure on you media people, you would think that we
are sissies and you will come after us the next time!" See, they
have gone beyond the stage of "being hopping mad" and into the
higher stage of "rational management."

What is the result? The spirit of
justice for the media workers has been castrated. The editors-in-chief
have to worry every time that they get an article on abuse of
authority. So they mull over the possible consequences and dilute the
words and details. In the end, either they avoid the issue or just
glance over it like a dragonfly on the water. This has a serious
impact on the quality of opinion monitoring. There are even rules that
require that "the criticized person must sign to approve the
criticism." Who has heard of the helplessness implied in
"asking the tiger to sign before you strike him with a rod"?

[027] To
Support or Not Support RTHK? -- The Case of RTHK Mania
(04/10/2007) (SCMP)

The media has been accused of blowing up
"with a magnifying glass" a review committee's view that RTHK
should not be transformed into a proposed new public broadcaster.

Leung Tin-wai, spokesman for the Committee
on Review of Public Service Broadcasting, also disagreed with the view of
RTHK's director of broadcasting, Chu Pui-hing, that transforming RTHK into
the new body would be the best solution. He also believed that RTHK
staff were reluctant to give up their civil service status. He told a
Commercial Radio programme that if Mr Chu took a closer look at the issue
and understood what staff felt, he might realise the move would not
necessarily resolve all the problems, including the needs of staff.

RTHK's fate has become uncertain after the
government-appointed committee mapped out proposals for a statutory
independent public broadcaster, but not from a transformed RTHK.

Professor Leung said committee members had
been taken by surprise by the media's reaction to its comments. "The
media are just focusing on RTHK. We think that's unfair to the
committee," he said. "The section on RTHK is just a small part of
the report. But people are blowing it all up with a magnifying glass."

The veteran journalist and journalism
professor at Shue Yan University said the proposed broadcaster should start
afresh and that transforming RTHK into the new body was not the best
solution. "I have worked in different organisations. You can see that
starting with a white sheet is always desirable and easier. Re-tailoring old
clothing is difficult," he said.

... Public service broadcasting is a
cultural affair, which is unlike building a brand new healthcare
administration or land planning organization. For the latter, the
newer the better and it is a blessing to be able to start from scratch
because there are new equipment, new people and new buildings. For the
former (as well as for any cultural organization), both the direction and
operation must be built over the long term because public trust and
humanistic values do not appear at the snap of a finger, nor can they be
bought or hired ... so before we decide to withdraw our trust and support
from a 79-year-old public service broadcasting organization, we must have a
basis that is ten times more concrete, more precise and more serious than
just that "the baggage for RTHK is too heavy."

This leads to the true doubt in this essay:
the "Seven Gentlemen" on the Committee on Review of Public Service
Broadcasting did not fulfill their duty in the review perfectly.

A member of the Committee recently
complained that the public opinion focused too much on the future of RTHK
and ignored the other issues raised in the report. This was unfair to
the Committee, etc. He is correct, but he forgot to say that public
opinion was totally focused on the life/death of RTHK as he said because
people valued highly the public trust and humanistic values represented by
RTHK. The report did not answer people's doubts on those
aspects. So was the report fair to the people of Hong Kong?
Since those doubts have still not been answered, the people have no choice
but continue to fight.

In the face of those doubts, the Committee
chairman's usual response was: "Our duty was to review the future of
public service broadcasting, not that of RTHK." He is either
kidding himself, or fooling others, or both. The Committee was
appointed to face the future, but the future of a society comes from the
present one, right? Since even the report acknowledges that RTHK is
the sole public service broadcaster over the past 79 years, how can the
Committee not review and discuss it carefully? ...

For example, someone is annoyed that there
is a family discord and spends some money to hire a psychologist to study
the problem in order to figure out how to "build a harmonious
family." The psychologist locks himself in a room (or travels
around the world) to mull over the problem and writes a long report that
regurgitates some conventional wisdom. Then he glosses over the family
situations in just a couple of sentences and says: "The family carries
too much baggage right now." Is such a report fair to the family
members? Is this helpful towards family harmony?

Two weeks ago, I contacted various people
in the cultural and academic fields and asked about their interest in
forming a RTHK Concern Group. Most of them specified that their
participation must be premised upon leaving the future of RTHK open -- if
RTHK must be killed, then there has to be sufficient reason and not just
because it is a negative asset. After the news was reported, it was
characterized as "supporting RTHK." That is a
misunderstanding. To support or not to support RTHK requires knowledge
and reason. The "Seven Gentlemen" may have written a report,
but they did not do all their homework. There is cause to be
"concerned."

Finally: the end of the report included
"a list of persons and organizations who were invited to offer
opinions." This implied that the Committee had obtained broad
opinions beyond the monopoly of the seven. My name was listed
there! Hmmm, right, a certain secretary had telephoned me to dine out
but I did not bother to go. There was also a fax sheet to ask for my
opinion, but I did not bother to reply. I also encountered the
Committee chairman by chance because he was sitting at the next table at a
restaurant, and he complained bitterly to me that the former Broadcasting
Authority chairman had refused to appear in a hearing. If the report
is willing to play word games over such petty incidents to create a false
impression of democracy, then it makes one doubt the credibility of the
"Seven Gentlemen." What do you say, Chu Pui-hing?

[026] Tolerance
is a Kind of Political Wisdom (04/09/2007) (Southern
Weekend,
by Xie Yong (谢泳)).

[in translation]

Following the high-speed development of the
Chinese economy, a number of conflicts (such as the rich-poor gap, class
discrimination, government-citizen clashes, etc) have appeared. These
problems that appeared during China's development are not frightening in
themselves. What is frightening is if we make judgments about these
issues without regard to the facts. The Chinese society is moving into
an era with diversified values and cultural ideas, and the respect and tolerarance
of alternate ideas is the basic approach to resolving social
conflicts. If not, government administration can turn minor incidents
into major incidents and make administratively low-cost matters into
extremely high-cost ones.

During the past 30 years or so, China has
basically been in a transitional period of opening up. Due to the
broad reach of science and technology, the Chinese people today have basic
knowledge and understanding of mainstream world civilization and human
culture. With the wide availability of education, the Chinese people
have strong notions about the legal system and human rights.
Ordinarily speaking, the vulnerable social groups would not actively oppose
the government unless their basic rights are severely damaged. In the
conflict between the strong and the weak, the strong government can minimize
the social conflict by assuming an attitude of sympathy and understanding in
finding out the facts. When we advocate a harmonious society, this
includes the willingness for tolerance and respect for alternate choices.

I noticed that the state has recently
changed its attitude in how mass incidents should be handled. That is:
it is necessary to realistically understand the basic premise why the mass
incident took place and then make a judgment consistent with the
facts. This allows the social conflict to be resolved with minimum
social costx. Once this thinking is in place, the officials will
handle social conflicts differently. The government is not facing off
against enemies; it is just certain people whose interests have been damaged
in this society and who have therefore over-reacted. In a society
which has abandoned the theory that "the guiding principle is class
struggle," the government can have the lowest-cost and
highest-efficiency administration this way.

To be pragmatic means to acknowledge the
existence of real conflicts and that is the way to solve the problems
thoroughly. The chief designer of the reforms, Deng Xiaoping, had many
very accurate assessments. For example, before the reforms, many
people in Guangdong took the risk to smuggle themselves into Hong
Kong. Someone reported to Mister Deng to say that this was a new trend
in the class struggle as a result of actions by the capitalists and
imperialists. Deng Xiaoping had a very simple assessment: Hong Kong
labor wages are higher! This very simple assessment involved deep
powers of observation about society and people. Without this power of
observation, there would be no reforms/opening later on. Such are the
courage and wisdom of politicians.

The reform of how to handle mass incidents
will be useful to raising the quality of administration. Sometimes,
when the thinking is adjusted, breakthroughs may appear. For the
government administrators, management is an administrative action and the
issue is how to use the wisdom. It requires wisdom to turn enemies
into friends. By contrast, turning friends into enemies is most simple
and does not require any wisdom, but it entails high administrative
costs. In this era of globalization, it is impossible to block all
information. Many simple things have damaged the image of the
government to a large degree because the administrators lack political
wisdom.

According to data from the Taiwan human
resources website 104.com.tw, the growth in demand for Taiwan managers to
fill jobs in mainland China had grown 22% from March 2005 to March 2006;
however, the growth slowed down to 10% from March 2006 to March 2007.
By contrast, the growth in demand by Taiwan managers for mainland jobs had
grown 15% from March 2005 to March 2006, and 23% from March 2006 to March
2007.

Ever since the second half of last
year, the number of Taiwan managers looking for mainland job opportunities
was obviously increasing. In March 2007, there were 25,000 Taiwanese
competing for 12,000 mailand jobs. Five or six years ago, there were
two mainland job openings for each Taiwan person.

But while Taiwan people are willing to go
west, the mainland is less welcoming than before. Previously, when
Taiwanese managers go to mainland, they receive 1.5 to 2 times their pay in
Taiwan; nowadays, they are getting only 1.1 to 1.2 times.

When Taiwan people go to work in mainland,
they are most worried are being replaced by mainland managers. But
they should worry more about the fact that the mainland managers do not even
regard the Taiwan people as their "hypothetical
competitors." In a February 2007 survey by 104.com.tw, about
1,500 managers were asked: "In the globalized competition, the people
from which region poses the greatest threat to your job?" 57% of
Taiwan managers choose "mainland China, Hong Kong and
Macau." But the mainland managers choose Europe first at 22% and
Hong Kong second; Taiwan ranked only fifth place at 10%.

What is the greatest threat to these
managers under globalization. The Taiwan managers' greatest threat is
"The relocation of assets overseas and the ensuing loss of
opportunities in Taiwan." The mainland managers thought:
"The pressure for personal future development when competing against
overseas workers who have rich experience in globalization."

"The Taiwan managers look towards
mainland China, while the mainland managers look at the world. The
competitive stage for talents in mainland China is truly internationalized
whereas Taiwan talents are just limited to mainland China only. These
are different ways of thinking.

Those Taiwan managers who have worked in
mainland before can count on their experience as a competitive
advantage. Thus, "work experience" has replaced
"professional ability" as the main competitive advantage for
Taiwan corporate managers.

[024] Thieves
in China Get Punished Mob Style (04/09/2007) (The
Sun (Hong Kong)) On a number of video sites (such asFeedBandit.com),
there is a 3-minute clip titled "Thieves in China Get Punished Mob
Style." The people in the video appeared to be Chinese and the
people are heard to be speaking in mainland Chinese accent. So it is
conjectured to have taken place in mainland China.

In the viceo clip, there are two persons in white shirts lying on the
ground. They are holding their heads in their hands and
whimpering. They are believed to be thieves who have been
caught. Then three middle-aged men came and administered a beating
with fists, feet, heels, knees and even rocks. The thieves screamed as
each blow landed. During the process, there are dozens of spectators
but nobody interfered.

According to Shanghai Evening News, the
American hit movie <The Pirates of the Caribbean 3: The World's End>
will not be exhibited in mainland cinemas because Chow Yun-fat's scarred
face was deemed undesirable. At first, this news item seems to be a
netizen parody of the State Administration of Film, Radio and
Television. But it is entirely possible that the SAFRT decision-makers
may be rash just like that, since rashness does not seem to have negative
consequences for them. But don't the SAFRT people love Chow
Yun-Fat? Didn't they grow up watching <A Better Tomorrow 英雄本色>?
How can they don't like the handsome Brother Mark? Impossible.
Anyone who has watched <A Better Tomorrow> knows the joy of movies
from outside the mainland. How could they rashly shoot down <The
Pirates of the Caribbean 3>?

On further thought, this news item may not
be false. The SAFRT and the angry young people may share the same
opinions, and this is not the first time. <Memoirs of a Geisha>
could not be shown for obscure reasons that were never disclosed. At
first, the Internet sentiments were: a Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi went to
portray a Japanese geisha -- this is about Japan and about geishas, and she
also had passionate scenes with male Japanese actors. This hurt the
nationalistic feelings of the Chinese audience (actually, it was only a
small group of angry Internet youth).

But <The Pirates of Caribbean 3> is
not about Japan and Chow Yun-fat did not have any passionate scenes with any
Japanese. He only dressed up to play a pirate. How does this
"insult Chinese people"? Based upon this logic, Chinese
actors can only play heroes and emperors in the future? Even if the
emperor is evil and bloodthirsty, he will lift the image of the Chinese as
long as he wears golden armor.

Previously, I also felt that the angry
young people and their ideas are not scary and the irrational voices are
unconvincing no matter how loud the volume is. But I am beginning to
have my doubts now. If a voice is particularly loud, can it overwhelm
those whispering voices and the silent majority because they own the right
of speech irrespective if the content is convincing? When a large
group of people are arguing, the last thing you hear is not the most
reasonable voice but the most hysterical, unscrupulous and irrational sharp
voice that had the loudest decibels. When McDonald's read that some
netizens want to boycott Rainie Yang, they removed the commercials with
her. What is the sense!

Presently, we see only emperors on
television. In the cinemas, there are only emperors. Ordinary
men are not allowed to shed tears, because they have to maintain their
dignity, they have to multiply, they have to flourish and they have to
aspire high in a healthy fashion. It makes you think that the people
in this nation do not visit restrooms. In fact, we don't even need
restrooms in this nation. I don't know if the angry youth and SAFRT
are satisfied when they turn on the television set or enter a movie
house. I don't know if they become especially proud of their nation
and think that Chinese are the noblest people in the world.

[022] How
Deep Is The Water In Shanghai (04/08/2007) Cai
Jing is a famous CCTV investigative reporter, but you have to decide
whether this blog post is factual or fictional. If it is factual, then
it is even entertaining; even if it is fictional, how much truth is in it?

I was out working in the field twice in a
row. How is everyone?

Shanghai is an eyeful, especially the
people. Over the past couple of days, I've been meeting with a
boss. A man with a square head and big ears, holding a big wallet
bag. He mumbles somewhat. As soon as he starts talking, his
assistant interjects: "Our boss is a peasant. His speech is
unclear." The boss does not seem to mind as he just nods his head
and listens.

We never figured out just what he
does. He has a small office. There is not much in there related
to office work. There are many bags that reportedly contain various
kinds of secrets. But he does not know how to read them. He has
hired retirees from various fields to give him advice. They are
available upon a telephone call.

He was very interested in our current
undercover investigation. He said: "Why don't you work for
me? You can start a detective agency and get me some commercial
secrets. Annual salary of 500,000 RMB."

He observed our uncertainty. He
reassured us: "Don't be afraid. If you have problems, I will take
care of it." The cameraman said: "We want to shoot the water
screen at a coffee shop today. They won't let us film."
After a short while, a police vehicle showed up downstairs. Then he
waved to us from upstairs and say: "Come. You can film now."

We wanted to find a certain night club
girl. We had no luck. He said: "No problem. They
usually hang around with gangsters." So he turned around to make
a telephone call. In a short while, two guys showed up. One of
them was dressed in a white western suit and wore white leather shoes.
He addressed the boss as "Big brother." This man gave us the
telephone number and address of the girl, plus her original name when she
was still in Sichuan.

After the two men left, the boss told us
about the second person: "Actually, he is an undercover policeman for
many years. He only receives 500 RMB in special fees each month.
He can't even afford to get married. It has not been easy."
Therefore, he gives the man some financial aid.

In the evening, we went undercover to the
night club. The several young men in our team could not have passed
muster. We looked around and only the boss resembled like a
client. He did not refuse. He said: "Just say that I am a
Japanese boss."

On the way over, our cameraman was
wondering aloud whether the nightclub might be too dim for filming.
"The lighting may not be good."

He was driving and he heard that. He
took out the telephone and he said, "I'll offer them some money to turn
the lights up." We had to dissuade him from making that telephone
call.

We got out of the elevator. The girls
were lined up on both sides of the aisle. They bowed in unison and
chanted: "Konichiwa." He thrusted his stomach forward and
calmly inspected the girls slowly one at a time while we were secretly
filming. Then he said: "Too poor quality." And then we
left.

Before we left Shanghai, we thanked him at
a dinner. We were chatting: "Unfortunately, we don't know when
what-is-his-name might show up, or else we could interview him
too." He laughed and said: "The National Security Bureau can
take care of something like that."

I was astonished as I watched him take out
the telephone and made a call. Twenty minutes later, someone came
through the door. It was a tall, spirited young man with a crew cut
holding a briefcase in his hand. They exchanged looks. The boss
got up and shook hands with the man. As he shook hands, he turned
around to look at us. His look exuded both shyness and pride. He
did not return that night. His big wallet bag was leaning against the
chair.

Before we left, we dared not to mention
work anymore. In seeking for a different topic, Xiaohong said:
"How is Secretary-General Jiang doing in Shanghai now?"

"I can set up an appointment," he
said. "How about this evening?"

[021] Yang
Lijuan Knocks On My Door (04/08/2007) Actually, this is
only approximately (but not exactly) true. I live in an area known as
Kadoorie Hill and this is Apple
Daily's report on the activities of Andy Lau fan Yang Lijuan and her
mother yesterday.

Yesterday morning at 10:45am, Yang Lijuan
and her mother left their HKD 250 per day Shumshuipo hostel and went to pay
tribute to the Guanyin goddess in Mongkok. Then they took a taxi to
Kadoorie Avenue to look for Andy Lau. Since they don't know the
precise location of Andy Lau's house, they had to ask pedestrians. As
they are already "celebrities," nobody told them anything.
They also knocked on people's doors, but got nothing.

Finally, a Mercedes-Benz came out of Andy
Lau's building and accidentally bumped into Yang's mother.
Fortunately, she was uninjured. At around noon, the two gave up their
effort to find Lau and ate a fried chicken lunch at a fast food
restaurant. The two then headed back to the Nam Cheong Street hostel,
but were turned away on the grounds that the place was full. As a
result, the two were lost and did not know what to know. Someone
called the police who came and took them back to the station. The
police contacted some volunteer organizations, but the two refused anything
but a room of their own. In the evening, the two left the police
station and went looking for another hostel.

Although Yang Lijuan said that she was
coming to Hong Kong to take care of her father's funeral and she had no
intention of looking up Andy Lau, she could not resist yesterday from going
to Kadoorie Hill in search of Lau.

At 10am, Yang Lijuan and mother said that
they did not want to affect the hostel's business due to the gathering of
reporters and they also wanted to save money, so they checked out of their room.
The two got into a taxi in which they asked the driver for a temple to pray
for the father. Afterwards, the two took a taxi to Kadoorie Avenue and
began to look for Lau. They pressed doorbells and asked. Soon,
Yang Lijuan recognized the seven-person white van parked inside a certain
building lot and asked the security guard whether Lau lived there. The
security guard denied it, so Yang Lijuan started cursing.

At around 130pm, the two wanted to get on a
taxi to go to lunch in Mongkok. The taxi driver recognized Yang as the
famous Andy Lau fan and refused to take them. The two took another taxi,
whose driver took them to their destination but refused to take payment when
he saw them counting loose change to pay for the HKD 15 fare.

After lunch, the two went back to their
former hostel but were told that all the rooms had been rented out. So
they wandered in the street and pondered what to do. Yang said:
"I don't want to see Andy Lau now. It is he who should want to
see me."

At 5pm, the depressed Yang suddenly told
her mother "The money is with me" and abandoned her by getting
into a taxi alone.

Yang's mother began to ask pedestrians for
directions to a hostel, and that drew a crowd of spectators. A police
patrol came by and took her down to the police station. Meanwhile,
Yang was wandering around the Wong Tai Sin temple. She was found by
another police patrol and taken back to the Shumshuipo police station to
meet her mother. Last evening, the two left the police station through
the back door and
their present whereabouts are unknown.

Where does Andy Lau live? Here is an
EastWeek star map from August 2005.
Andy Lau's house is in the top left corner of the map. I live in the
bottom left corner.

[020] The
Xu Jinglei Nude Portrait (04/07/2007) (163.com)
On March 16, MOP announced that the painter An Di (安迪)
has announced an oil painting for which the asking price is 220,000 RMB
(based upon a price of 1 RMB per dab of the paint brush). In this painting,
the world's most popular blogger Xu Jinglei shows her naked back and
buttocks while holding a human figure with the head of a green frog.
Meanwhile, the writer Wang Shuo is watching the two from the side.
According to An Di: "Miss Xu is an intelligent woman. Intelligent
women are usually refined and elegant and really go naked in public.
There is no point in drawing a nude portrait of some movie star who goes
naked often."

I just learned someone drew a "nude
portrait" to sell for money. My lawyer advised me to sue him.

I won't sue him. Sue him for
what? When a person spent years to learn to pain and his most famous
is act is to "sell a Xu Jinglei nude portrait," there is nothing
else to feel other than pity for this painter that I have never met.
In any case, he has spent some effort on the paining.

Who is Xu Jinglei? She is a public
figure. Some people like her and others don't. They can make fun
of her in order to become more famous themselves and set up gossip
topics. I don't mind.

If someone happily buys this painting and
the comrade painter happily pockets the money, we should be glad for
them. If the painting isn't sold, then the whole thing fades
away. Who will the painter guy think about painting next? As
long as you like and others don't sue you, you have my blessing.

[019] The
Nude Female Stroller from Peking University (04/07/2007) (Southern
Metropolis Daily) On the morning of April 5, the reporter saw
a headline news item at a renowned Chinese forum titled <Sad!
Chinese student strolls nude overseas>. There was a set of
photographs. The accompanying text said: "Chinese student Zhang X
graduated from the Journalism Department of Peking University in 2002.
She walked totally nude in northern Europe in order to raise money for
charity."

The reporter conducted an investigation. Among those graduating from
Peking University in 2002, there was a student named Zhang who came from
Tianjin. After she graduated, she became a graduate student at the
Peking University School of Journalism and Communications. This
student Zhang had been invited to many high schools to discuss her
educational experience, including to middle schools in Kansu and Guangdong
in September and October 2005. Her photograph was displayed on the
websites of those two schools. When the reporter compared to Zhang's
photographs to this set of nude photographs, it was clear that it was a
different person. The reporter also contacted the high school teacher
of Zhang in Tianjin. When the teacher checked the nude photographs,
she was 100% certain that this nude girl was not Zhang, who is mildly
overweight and very plain. No amount of cosmetic surgery could have
resulted in the physique, face and comportment. According to the
teacher, Zhang is presently in Canada.

Who is the nude girl? That is less important a question than how does
Zhang X defend her reputation in the Internet age.

Follow-up: The Chinese netizens have tracked down the nude girl to be a
Mongolian girl named Agnes who once posed for Met-Art (see Beijing
News).

In the afternoon of March 26, a mining disaster took place at the Shankeng
mine in Yangjiazhuang town, Fenyang city, Shanxi province. At noon on
March 28, a telephone call was made to the Shanxi Daily hotline: "On
March 26, there was an incident at a coal mine in Yangjiazhuang town.
Dozens of miners are buried in the well ..." Our reporter drove
down to Fenyang and found the village at around 4pm. In that village,
most of the men have left to work elsewhere. The coal mine workers
came mostly from Shaanxi province. When the reporter attempted to ask
for information, nobody would speak to him. The reporter did stop one
mine worker who looked around to make sure that there was no one around,
said "Never heard of it. I just got here. I know
nothing" and then he used this finger to point to a road behind the
village. Then the mine worker said "They would be long buried by
now" and then he sped away.

At noon March 29, the reporter went back again. As he began to speak
to people, a black Santana arrived and three men got off to ask what the
reporter was up. The reporter pretended that he was interested in
gathering news about the drinking water and wanted to look at the coal mine
on the way. The men said: "There is nothing to look at. The
coal mine went out of production a long time go." So the reporter
continued. Then another unlicensed Mitsubishi van began to trail the
reporter. When the reporter arrived at the Sankeng coal mine, it was
deserted although smoke was still rising from the well. So the
reporter turned around quickly. The black Santana came and a man got
out to enter the reporter's car. The man invited the reporter to
"take a rest" at a Fenyang hotel. When he got there, a man
from the town government's coal supervisorty department showed up. The
reporter told the man what he had heard (deaths at the coal mine). The
man said no such thing had occurred. Then he said: "It was not as
serious and not as many people were involved." When the reporter
got up to leave, the man stuffed 20,000 RMB into his hands. At this
time, the man had not even asked the reporter about this name or the
newspaper that he worked for. The reporter called his supervisor and
then returned to Taiyuan to report to the provincial production safety
supervisory department. The 20,000 RMB was turned over to the Lueliang
city disciplinary committee.

On March 31, the reporter returned to the Sankeng mine. Some men were
working there, but they fled when they saw strangers. The reporter
went through the scene and found several notebooks that had been kept by
coal mine workers. The diary showed that this well had been in
operation from June 2006 through March 24!

On April 1 morning, the reporter came to the Sankeng mine again. The
local production safety supervisory department was there and they were
searching through the mine. Nothing was found.

On April 2 afternoon, the reporter came to the Sankeng mine again. He
was jostled by unidentified men who threatened to bury him and his driver in
a ditch. Out of safety considerations, the reporter left the
scene. Then a crazy car case occurred with a black Santana.

Meanwhile, based upon the notebook found at Sankeng mine, another reporter
was sent to Shaanxi province where the coal mine workers came from.
The interviewed the family of Yang Qingxin, who told the reporter that they
had received a settlement of 302,000 RMB in return for keeping quiet.
The reporter interviewed the family of Tang Jun, whose family received
240,000 RMB in compensation. The reporter interviewed the wife of Feng
Yaoming and she received 240,000 RMB in compensation. Pu Wanxue died
at the coal mine too, and his family received 240,000 RMB. Peng
Jianjun, Peng Jianhua and Yan Xinhua are cousins who perished at the mine,
and their families received a total of 450,000 RMB ... in all, the reporter
was able to find nine victims.

CCTV <Economics 30 Minutes> reporter
Wang Liping said that their team of three persons were gathering news in
Zhugezhuang town, Changli county, Qinhuangdao city yesterday morning when
they were intercepted by a white van and a black Honda sedan. They
were then pushed around and assaulted by a dozen unidentified men. The
Changli county publicity department "disagreed with this
description."

According to Wang Liping, at around 9:20am,
the three were filming from a bridge overlooking an iron factory at
Zhugezhuang town, Changli county. They were blocked by a white van in
front and a black Honda sedan in the back. More than ten identified
men then dragged the three of them out of the car and took away their
camera, mobile telephone, car keys and driver license. According to
the photographs provided by Wang Liping, she had obvious signs of injury on
her stomach and hands.

At 9:30am, the militia police from the
Zhugezhunag town police station arrived at the scene and took the three back
for interrogation. "They did not ask about the assault incident
at first. Instead, they asked whether we were CCTV
reporters." Wang Liping said that they were on a regular mission
with a letter of introduction and CCTV passes. At around noon, the
equipment taken away (including the mobile phones) were returned to the
three.

At around 19:30pm, this reporter conducted
Changli county publicity department director Zhang Aijun. She said:
"We do not accept that they are CCTV reporters. They were unable
to show press cards and work identification."

According to <Economics 30 Minutes>
editor-in-chief Zhang Kehua who rushed to Changli at 17:00pm, the three of
them have a letter of introduction from CCTV Economics Channel and CCTV
entry passes. Wang Liping's press card is presently undergoing the
annual review.

Yesterday morning, <Economics 30
Minutes> was filming the rule-breaking, polluting iron factories in
Zhugezhuang town, Changli county, Qinhuangdao city. Suddenly, a white
van stopped the progress of their vehicle. Then another black sedan
arrived. More than twenty persons dragged the three CCTV reporters out
of the car. Worse yet, some of the men dragged the female reporter to
the river side (more than 10 meters deep) and attempted to throw her into
the river. When a male reporter attempted to come to her assistance,
he was kicked several times in the chest. During the tussle, the
female reporter was injured in the hands, face and waist. During the
beating, the men were yelling: 弄死一個是一個
(One dead is one down).

[016] Special
Courier Delivery Service (04/06/2007) (Reporter
Home, Xici Hutong) This kind of advertisement appears when a
newspaper adopts a policy of total freedom to print anything that you want
(as long as you pay). The following classified ad appeared in a Hubei
newspaper.
Translation: My 84-year-old family member is ready to make his final
contribution in life: "Through the words from his mouth, he will carry
your personal thoughts." If you have some regrets and sorrow
about your deceased family members and friends, he will bring those thoughts
on his way over to send your regards and filial piety. He will serve
as the last postal truck on behalf of your deceased family members and
friends ... believe it or not. Please send SMS to 13343270272.
For payment, please purcahse a 2004 Luoyang electric earthmover (cost around
30,000 RMB).

I'm a loyal Andy Lau fan! After
watching the cold indifference of Andy Lau towards Yang Lijuan, I am
broken-hearted and pained as a fan. I feel that society should be
sympathetic about the Lijuan affair instead of treating her like a
"mental patient"! I'm a Andy Lau and I can therefore
understand the behavior and deeds of Lijuan.

The death of the father of Yang Lijuan is
not an outcome that anyone wanted to see. Therefore Andy Lau should
not be cold towards Yang Lijuan in because he is worried that the same thing
might happen again. This is an "isolated individual" case
and he should offer special concern and comfort! He should not lack
human concern! At this time, Yang Lijuan and family are near mental
collapse. Society is treating them like jokes! This is
unbecoming!

Since Andy Lau has media and opinion on the
side, he should take special care of Yang Lijuan, including even taking care
of her for the rest of her life. Today, as an Andy Lau fan, I advise
Andy Lau to accept responsibility for Yang Lijuan. Such are the voices
and expectations of us fans! They are also the voices and expectations
that society ought to have!

If Andy Lau refuses to accept responsibility
towards Yang Lijuan within one week, I will kill myself in the school
dormitory as a strong sign of protest! I protest the cold indifference
of Andy Lau and society.

Beijing University student: Zhang Bo

What is going on? Well, this post was
dated April 1st ...

Addendum: (Tianya)
There is now even a video of "Zhang Bo" threatening suicide,
including approaching an opened window and pointing a knife at his stomach (all
with a printed letter to Andy Lau stuck to his body).
What should be done about this? One netizen suggestion is to shut the
blog down. Yes, but whatever happens to his freedom of speech?
Here is the blog post
accompanying the photographs:

This is day two. Andy Lau has not
responded yet.
I am disappointed. I don't know if he is unaware or he doesn't care
about my protest!
No matter what, I will continue to wait ...
After one week, if Andy Lau has not yet given Yang Lijuan a satisfactory
answer, then I will keep my promise -- the promise of a martyr!
I am thinking which manner of dying will receive resonance in society,
and draw Andy Lau's attention.
Perhaps the tragic and grandiose act of jumping out of a buidling is the
best choice.
I hope that the media headlines one week later will show the photograph of
me with blood oozing out of my eyes, nose, mouth and ears.
Only that kind of sight will give shock
and cause netizens to reflect.

[014] Though
I Am Gone (04/05/2007) (Apple
Daily) There was supposed to be a documentary festival in
Yunnan on April 6-12. On March 26, the organizers notified all
attendees that the festival has been canceled. According to
information, the reason was the presence of the film <Though I Am
Gone> from independent producer Hu Jie. This film is about Beijing
Normal University's girls middle school vice-principal and party secretary
Bian Zhongyun who was killed by Red Guards during the Great Proletariat
Cultural Revolution. The narrator is Bian's surviving husband who
provided some photograph evidence.

The film <Though I Am Gone> may never be shown in China. But
this is the Internet age, and YouTube has the film in ten parts (with
English-language sub-titles):

On April 3, China
Youth Daily reported that the Chongqing municipal government/party
has required that Chongqing Daily News can only present reports about the
normal activities of the city party secretary, mayor and People's Political
Consultative Council on page 2 and in not more than 1,000 words; television
and radio reports will not present these reports as the top stories and any
report must not be longer than 3 minutes. Instead, the vacated space
shall be used to report on and serve the broad masses.

I believe that this action will be
appreciated by Chongqing citizens as well as people outside. In the
recent "nail house" case, the Chongqing officials did not issue a
ban order on media coverage. This seemed to have elevated Chongqing's
image in this regard as leading the nation.

... In thinking about the evolution of the
news industry over the past 30 years of economic reform, advances came step
by step. Following the appearance of the market economy and the
emergence of individualized readers, the various kinds of lies (distortions,
straight lies, empty talk) are still present today in the media.
However, they no longer have a market and they are there only for the
self-enjoyment of certain people. When a breaking event occurs, the
media are going for timely and active reporting instead of choosing
avoidance and silence; international news reporting is more objective and
rational; the space for commentary has also increased greatly over the past
few years.

But it cannot be denied that in certain
places, the media (especially the newspaper front page and the top story in
broadcast media) are still the private domain of officials. About
twenty years ago, I worked for a local newspaper that had only four
pages. The inside joke was: "It is so easy to run a
newspaper. Page one is sold to the party committee; page two goes to
the correspondent; page three (the literary supplement) goes to the
frustrated literati; page four goes to the wicked businessmen
(advertiser)."

Nowadays, there is more social news and
entertainment content, but the front page looks the same. I heard that
our current city party secretary stipulates that his activities shall appear
on page one and the mayor's activities shall appear on page two. At
the newspaper, an open secret is this: A newspaper does not have to care
about whether everybody is satisfied; it only has to make sure that the
party secretary is not dissatisfied.

... I also see another puzzling phenomenon:
people usually believe that as the economy gets more developed, it is more
likely for systems of democratic governance and justice to be
realized. But sometimes the opposite happens. Underdeveloped
places such as Chongqing are often more likely to have enlightened
officials, whereas some more prosperous places have less space for the
media to operate. This is thought-provocating indeed.

At a staff meeting of Songquan Middle
School (Luowu district, Shenzhen city) on November 20, 2006, the
administration encouraged the teachers to enter into a national competition
for the best teacher's blog. So the teacher Rong Wei (荣炜)
opened a blog at the Luowu Education Net on November 27, 2006.

Rong Wei's blog became an important bridge
for communication among teachers, students, parents and friends. It
became a popular spot on the Luowu Education Net. Within four months,
she had collected more than 110,000 hits. On January 10, 2007, at the
Luowu Department of Education's Fifth Annual Science and Technology
Information Festival, her blog was rated fifth place in the first-class
awards and recommended to the national educational bloggers' contest.

But when Rong Wei went to her blog at
3:30pm, March 27, she discovered that her blog has been shut down.

What happened here? This was about
what she put on her blog. Apart from recording her teaching and daily
life, Rong Wei also reported on experiences at her former school, the
Guiyuan Middle School. She had spent more than ten years there before
leaving a year ago. Rong Wei recalled how she took over a class in
September 2004. Thereafter, the students in her class performed well
except in the subject of science. The students and parents wanted the
science teacher to be replaced but their pleas had no effect on the
school. One day, a deputy director named Chen told Rong Wei that the
science teacher "had a deal" with the school. At a parents'
meeting, Rong Wei informed the parents. The science teacher found out
and had a row with Rong Wei. The next day, the principal met with Rong
Wei and informed her that she was being replaced. Rong Wei summoned
Chen to be her witness, but Chen promptly denied ever saying it. In
front of many other teaches, Rong Wei slapped Chen in the face. Two
days later, a police report was filed and Rong Wei was taken away for
interrogation. The school announced the dismissal of Rong Wei, who
then moved to the Songquan Middle School in February. These events
were posted on Rong Wei's blog.

On March 27, Rong Wei could not access her
blog. She called the website administrator and was told that the blog
had been ordered shut down. The next day, Rong Wei went to the Luowu
Department of Education and complained to the relevant leader. The
person said that the blog had been just down because some of the posts were
detrimental to unity and teaching and therefore the blog was shut
down. Rong Wei demanded an explanation because she believed that her
rights were being violated. On account of her vehement objections, the
blog was re-opened at 3pm, and she took a snapshot of the blog. But by
6pm, she could not access the blog again. She also found that the
website had new rules such as "respecting others and refraining from
using violent, excessive and insulting language when commenting" and
"any essay or content that violates the above may lead to the
administrator deleting the essays or shutting down the blog if the person
fails to heed the warnings."

[011] The
Media and Andy Lau (04/05/2007) No, this is not even about the
usual The Man Who 'Shot' Andy Lau
story. The following was reported in Next
Weekly about the case of mainland fan Yang Lijuan, whose father
drowned himself in Hong Kong Harbor because actor/singer Andy Lau refused to
have a private meeting with his daughter.

[in translation]

Last week, 30-year-old Andy Lau fan Yang Lijuan's father jumped into Hong Kong harbor and drowned himself when the
actor/singer would not have a private meeting with his daughter. The
incident rattled Hong Kong and mainland China, and the mainland media rushed
over to follow the story.

Our reporter followed Yang Lijuan and her
mother back to their hometown and witnessed how the media manipulated them
like puppets on strings ... On Monday, Yang Lijuan learned that she could get
a travel permit to come to Hong Kong to take care of her father's funeral
affairs. The mainland media then offered money and resources to push
this "reality show" to new heights.

On Monday evening, our reporter received a
call from Yang Lijuan in Lanzhou. She said that she had been notified
that she can get an emergency travel permit to Hong Kong to take care of
funeral affairs. "I cannot say that I am happy, but I am
relaxed. I can bring my father back, as well as see my father together
with Andy Lau." She is asking Andy Lau to pay respects to her
father. More importantly, she wants to meet with him for half an hour
to have a heart-to-heart chat. She plans to travel to Beijing on
Tuesday to meet a singer who has promised to pay for her travel
expenses. Once she receives the money, she will "invade Hong Kong
again." Part of her travel expenses to Beijing is footed by
mainland media. <Southern Metropolis Daily> and <Guangzhou
Daily> have raised 4,000 RMB for her.

...

The drowning death of Yang's father created
a sensation across China. The mainland media rushed in to cover the
story. The most active one is the portal NetEase. ...

Since last Thursday, NetEase has 'wrapped
up' the mother and daughter. They arranged for the two to say at the
Sichuan Hotel in Shenzhen. On the next morning, the NetEase team
'brought' the mother and daughter to take the earliest flight from Guangzhou
to Lanzhou. Since they expected that other media would be waiting at
the airport, the group immediately raced towards the waiting van upon
arrival and headed straight to the hotel. Nevertheless, three vehicles
from other media followed the van.

At the hotel, NetEase asked the hotel to
lock the elevator so that it would not stop on the 28th floor where the
mother and daughter were staying. The hotel security staff were also
instructed to guard the stairs to the 28th floor to prevent any other media
from approaching the two.

According to the NetEase field
commander/reporter Fu Jun: "This occasion is more than an ordinary news
story. We all want this affair to be over with as quickly as
possible. Therefore, we arranged for them to return to Lanzhou and we
used our connections to get them the travel permits for Hong Kong as quickly
as possible. You must know that the next climax is when they return to
Hong Kong!"

Fu Jun was very excited and said that
NetEase has already spend more than 10,000 RMB on the mother and
daughter. If the travel permits become available in a couple of days,
then the 'climax' will be ready to take place. Of course, NetEast will
be there all the way.

Even Yang Lijuan apparently could not stand
the media manipulation. One evening, she came to this reporter's hotel
room and whispered: "Can you help me? You should not believe in
that website. I don't know what they are up to. They insisted
that I return here. They keep telling me what to do. What should
I do? You tell me, what should I do?"

If the cow does not want to drink water, it
will not lower its head. What to do? She knows very well
herself.

According to the Jiulongpo People's Court,
the two-storey building was valuated at 2.47 million RMB while the real estate
developer offered a replacement shop/home building valuated at 3.06 RMB; as a
result, the house owners Yang/Wu will pay back the difference of 590,000 RMB
to the developer. Furthermore, the real estate develop will pay
compensation to the amount of 900,000 RMB for business losses plus 105,000 RMB
for property damage and moving expenses. This is coming down from the 5
million plus RMB originally demanded by Yang/Wu.

Here is the chronology:

On March 25, Wu Ping met with the court's director and executive judge and
spoke for three hours. The court director noted that the two parties
differ too much in their demands and they don't trust each other
anymore. This made mediation very difficult.

On March 26, the two parties met for more than two hours without resolution.

On March 27, the court organized for the two sides to meet again. But
the differences were still hard to reconcile and sharp words were exchanged
with threats of breaking off future contact.

On March 28, Wu Ping asked to see district party secretary Zheng Hong in the
company of the court director. After a meeting that lasted more than
three hours, Wu Ping's attitude changed greatly.

On March 29, the court organized for the two sides to meet and discuss the
concrete details of the settlement. The developer went and prepared a
ladder for Yang Wu to come down.

On April 2, the two sides reached agreement. Shortly afterwards, Yang Wu
came out of the building. In view of the fact that if demolition were to
occur during daytime, there could be a mass gathering to observe the
proceedings and that might lead to safety and security problems.
Therefore, the demolition took place that night.

At this time, both parties claim fatigue and are refusing press interviews for
now.

[009] Taiwan
By The Numbers (04/04/2007) (United
Daily) (932 adults interviewed March 31-April 1 using the telephone
directory as the sampling base and then randomizing the last two digits of
the selected numbers)

For the total population, here are the support levels for the four DPP
presidential candidates (the number inside the brackets is the support level
from the March 6 poll)Frank Hsieh: 26% (16%)Su Tseng-cheng: 23% (21%)Annette Lu: 14% (16%)Yu Shyh-kun: 5% (6%)

(United Daily)
Allegedly, the poll numbers that showed a surge for Frank Hsieh influenced
the decision by Premier Su Tseng-cheng to accept the resignation of
Government Information Office director Cheng Wen-tsang. The latter had
attended a dinner in which he suggested to Sumio Hasegawa
of Fuji TV to sell TTV shares to
Liberty Times. This certainly had the appearance of using his
government position to lobby for a politically friendly media company, even
if the transaction never took place.

The Fuji TV case broke open about the same time as the TVBS scandal over the
gangster video. Upon advice from Cheng, Su Tseng-cheng attempted to
use the TVBS scandal to unify the green camp and cut down the influence of
the pan-blue media. But Su's efforts went too far and the case became
a put brawl between the Executive Yuan and the National Communications
Committee. When the TVBS general manager resigned, the green camp was
not satisfied and demanded the Executive Yuan shut down TVBS for several
days. This led to a counterattack from the blue camp to focus on the
case of the Fuji TV dinner. The final straw came when the media polls
came out showing a surge for Frank Hsieh. Therefore, Su Tseng-cheng
decided to cut his losses and announced the resignation of Cheng Wen-tsang,
even though Su said that Cheng had not done anything wrong. The
announcement came so quickly that Cheng's resignation letter was written
after the fact. By the way, Su Tseng-cheng has stated that the
resignation has nothing whatsoever to do with polls.

[008] A
SCMP Exclusive (04/04/2007) When I find an interesting story
exclusive in Chinese, I translate it into English. That summarizes the
major activity on this website. It is rare for me to find an exclusive
story in English that is not reported in Chinese. But here is a South
China Morning Post story that I did not find in Apple Daily (where I
expected to find it):

That this should be termed baseness, abjection of mind, or servility, is it credible? --Hooker.

For the details of the history, see Rainie
Yang Goes To China. In brief, Rainie Yang Chenglin (杨丞琳)
is a Taiwan-based singer/actress who achieved notoriety for her comments about
China-Japan history on a television celebrity quiz show three years ago.
As Rainie Yang began to enter the mainland market, she found herself against
the Chinese patriots who revive that episode and call for boycotts. So
every time that she makes another career move on mainland, she has to hold
another press conference to apologize. Here is the latest one:

(NetEase Entertainment via 6Park)
On April 3, 2007, Rainie Yang called a press conference to apologize to the
people of China once again. She read out a letter: "How are
you? I am Rainie Yang. I don't know how to speak very well.
I am fortunate to have the continual support of all the media and fans.
From now on, I will try my best to perform well. I am really grateful to
you. Chenglin."

Rainie Yang said: "Actually some
netizens distorted what had happened on the show. But here I want to
thank the mass media for giving me a chance to clarify, or to make a sincere
apology. I want to apologize to the mainland friends for my
inappropriate speech at the time." Then she got up and made a
bow. She sat down again and continued to speak: "On that show, I
was about to explain but the host cut me off. I made the mistakes
because I am not familiar with history. I hope that you can forgive me
... from now on, I will continue to study history ... thank you."

Rainie Yang was then given a history book
with the explanation about contemporary Sino-Japanese history. She
accepted the book and said: "I had not studied a lot because I quit
school early to work. I am willing to read whenever I find the
time. I believe that I will understand history better in the
future. I want to thank everybody again. I also want to tell those
netizens who are distorting the facts to please not to continue doing
that. I will try my best with respect to my work in the future.
Thanks." Then she picked up the book and started reading in front
of the media.

Is this yet another acting performance from
an actress? What is really going on in Rainie Yang's mind? That is
for her to know and everybody else to speculate. Her case reflects the dilemma for any Taiwan-based
actor/performer. Do you want a performing career on mainland
China? You know that this is a much bigger and less crowded market than
Taiwan. You know that you have a natural advantage because you know the
language. But you also know that you must avoid certain 'politically
incorrect' topics unless you want to draw the wrath of the 'angry Chinese
youth.' Rainie Yang provides the case study of abjection.

[004] Hong Kong: A
Child of the Motherland (04/03/2007) (李先知
in Ming Pao)

[in translation]

... In the March 26 issue of TIME magazine,
Hong Kong was on the front cover with the lead story being an interview with
Chief Executive Donald Tsang. The local media obviously focused on
this interview. In the same issue, there was a more important essay
that nobody paid attention to. Not a single word was quoted by the
Hong Kong media. This essay was written by the Executive Council
convener Leung Chun-ying (梁振英)
who is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Consultative
Council. ...

The title of Leung's essay is Child
of Motherland. From the title, it does not seem to be any big
deal. But the sub-heading pointed out the main point of the essay in a
clear way: "As a part of China, Hong Kong cannot and may not
autonomously determine its own democratic system." Leung wrote:
"Unlike other colonies, Hong Kong did not become independent. It became
part of a nation—China—and was given not full but a "high
degree" of autonomy, under the principle of 'one country, two systems.'"

"Under the Basic Law, the central
government in Beijing has the power to appoint as well as remove Hong Kong's
Chief Executive. Furthermore, the Chief Executive has a duty under the Basic
Law to be accountable not only to Hong Kong but to the central government.
Democracy, therefore, is not for Hong Kong alone to determine.

This two-part process—election by Hong
Kong and appointment by Beijing, and the dual accountability to both Hong
Kong and Beijing—is unique. It's also a constitutional reality."

Then Leung got to the meat of the
matter. He wrote: "Universal suffrage without regard to this
reality will risk serious confrontation between the Hong Kong electorate and
China. We need to assure all parties that, when universal suffrage is
introduced, Beijing will retain its power to appoint the Chief Executive.
Both Hong Kong and Beijing will have to accept that the elected candidate is
accountable also to the other side."

To put it plainly, Leung pointed out that
if the central government permitted the people of Hong Kong to elect a Chief
Executive via universal suffrage and if the people of Hong Kong elect a
Chief Executive unacceptable to the central government, then there will be a
huge constitutional crisis. The gossip in the political circle is that
the appointment of the Chief Executive is an important part of sovereignty
for the central government and this line cannot be crossed, since many of
the powers of the Chief Executive were conferred by the central
government. But as the Hong Kong people see it, if they elect a
certain Chief Executive, then they obviously expect this person to take
charge. If this person does not receive the appointment by the central
government, then this is a direct confrontation. If there is no
credible system to deal with this matter, the political aftermath will be
disastrous. Therefore, political insiders say that this is the part of
the political reforms that the central government is most concerned about.

The above background explained that why
pan-democratic Chief Executive candidate Alan Leong's proposal to revise the
Basic Law was criticized severely by the leftists. The key point was
that the Leong proposal went past the line for central government
sovereignty. For this reason, when Donald Tsang met with the media on
March 21 as a Chief Executive candidate to discuss the future of political
reform, he used the bold words: "大家香港一齊玩一鋪勁的
Let everybody in Hong Kong play a big game together."

Informed sources say
that Tsang is confident that he can handle this issue based only upon one
reason: Hong Kong people are pragmatic. But it is hard to say whether
the central government shares that same confidence. A person familiar
with the Beijing political situation predicted privately that Hong Kong will
not have an easy time with political reform.

[003] Police
Academy (04/03/2007) Given that this story is just emerging in
the overseas websites, I went back to look up Taipei
Times on March 25, 2007:

A police cadet standing to the left in a
photograph has the muzzle of a handgun in his mouth, while a classmate
standing next to him, in full uniform and smiling, levels a second handgun
at the cadet's temple. Other grainy photographs show similarly
disturbing scenes of what Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang
Lien-fu (江連福
) said yesterday were police cadets
fooling around with guns during training. "I received the
pictures as a file attached to an anonymous e-mail from a Taipei police
academy and I was just appalled," Chiang told the Taipei Times
after displaying the photographs at a press conference in the legislature on
Friday.

The file contained 30 photographs of cadets
playing with guns by pointing them at one another, at a salamander and at
other random targets. Other pictures showed cadets viewing pornography
in class and drinking alcohol in their dormitories, he said.

But this is much less than what the
Chinese-language press in Taiwan was reporting.

(China Times via 6Park)
学生用玻璃啤酒瓶、香烟、糯米肠等异物插肛门，以及徒手戳肛门、用棒冰棍拍打男性生殖器等
(translation: The students inserted glass beer bottles, cigarettes, glutinous
rice wrapped sausages and other foreign objects into the anus; bare fists were
also thrust into the anus; ice hockey sticks were used to slap male
reproductive organs).

Why is precise reporting of the details of
the sadism significant? Because the president of the Taiwan Police
college Liu Chin-chang 劉勤章
was quoted as saying that these acts were just "生活花絮"
(translation: tidbits of life). If you come away with the impression
that these photographs (which were downloaded from a blog) were just about
students shooting salamanders on the wall, reading pornography and drinking
alcohol in the dormitory, you may agree that these are "tidbits of
life" and that there is nothing here. You wouldn't feel anything if
a beer bottle was inserted up your anus ...

[002] Hong
Kong Customs Department Shut Out (04/01/2007) (Apple
Daily) In 2005, the Hong Kong Customs Department was
successful in the prosecution of Chan Nai-ming (better known as "The Master
of Cunning" 古惑天皇)
for illegally uploading of movies using the BitTorrent (BT) system and
therefore infringing copyrights. The Hong Kong Customs Department had
been using employees to monitor the Hong Kong discussion forums.
Therefore, they are limited by the number of people that they can afford to
assign to perform the task.

Subsequently, the Hong Kong Customs Department worked with Hong Kong
University and spent HK$250,000 to develop a new automated computer system
that will monitor illegal uploads on the Internet without any human
intervention/supervision. The system was then applied to the more than
twenty large Hong Kong discussion forums with the ability to detect any
illegal uploading activity within one minute of occurrence.

Here is the report cad. After more than two weeks in operation, the
system has scanned more than 30,000 links. This was about ten times
more than what could be accomplished manually in the past. However,
the total number of targets identified was zero.

Why? Because only uploading is criminalized but not downloading.
If there is a BT link, then it is easiest if there is one and only seed
originating from Hong Kong. That would be unequivocal evidence.
Most of the time, the links have more than one seed and it becomes
impossible to establish who was the uploader and who were the
downloaders. Of the more than 30,000 links, 96% originated from Hong
Kong with more than one seed and 4% originated from elsewhere and therefore
outside of Hong Kong jurisdiction. Until the law is amended in Hong
Kong to criminalize downloading, this is a barrier to prosecution.

[001] Perceiving
China (04/01/2007) As noted before, links from Metafilter,
StumbleUpon and other sites to three 2004 ESWN posts (Humanizing China - Survival,
Relationships and Desires)
have generated a huge traffic surge on this website (about 20 Gigabytes in
bandwidth per day). Those pages were designed to have just photographs
and explanatory annotations (e.g. "The flow of the bicycles during the
early morning rush hour"). This meant that there was no context
for the reader (with respect to what is China? what is the system of
government there? etc). The comments at these various blogs really
reflect the projection of the inner conceptions and perceptions of the
readers themselves (e.g. "Why is this humanizing? Humans live in China,
right?")

In this context, I would like to quote Peter
Hessler from a recent interview about his book Oracle Bones:

The Chinese tend to view America in
extreme ways. Some Chinese speak of the US as if everybody there is
rich and happy — I'd say this is probably the most common viewpoint
among average Chinese. But there is also a lot of talk about
American poverty, violence, guns, as well as the bullying tendencies of
the American government. This line of thought is often encouraged by the
Chinese media. When I taught in Sichuan, my students used a Chinese
published textbook called Survey of America, which included one
chapter about "Social Problems." This is a sample
paragraph:

"In 1981, in California University,
robbery and rape increased one hundred and fifty percent. In a
Cathedral school of Washington District, a girl student was raped and
robbed by a criminal with a hunting knife while she was studying alone
in the classroom. In a California university, a football coach was
robbed on campus by someone with a gun. It is said that, in South
Carolina University, gangs of rascals have been taking girl students,
women teachers and wives of teachers working in this university as their
targets of rape, which has caused a great fear."

You can imagine how frustrating it is for an
American teacher to be expected to use such a book to introduce the United
States to a classroom of young Chinese. I'm sure that these
incidents are true — certainly, there are rascals in South Carolina
—and I imagine that the details were culled from American newspaper
stories. But that doesn't make them a useful starting point for
students in a small town on the Yangtze. They need context, not a bunch of
scattered facts and trivia. When I talk to Chinese about America, I
often find myself trying to push them away from the extremes. I
don't want them to think of the U.S. as either paradise or hell.
They need to see it in human, everyday terms.

How might this series of photographs be
reconciled with Hessler's remark. These photographs certainly
presently the Chinese in 'human, everyday terms.' But it also provides
no context. As Peter Hessler wrote in Oracle Bones (see quotation):

When something dramatic caught the
foreigner's eye, he pursued it: child-selling in Gansu, female
sterilization in Guangxi, jailed labor activists in Shandong. The
articles appeared in American newspapers, where the readers couldn't solve
the problems and didn't have the background necessary to keep everything
in context. It was like the Fuling (Sichuan) textbook: sometimes,
the more information you have, the less you know. And there is a
point at which even the intentions become voyeurism.

Yet, no sooner does a context is put
forward than the individuals in the photographs get subsumed under the broad
and abstract theme (e.g. modernization, uneven economic development, natural
and man-made disasters, democracy, instability, inequality of wealth,
etc). Wouldn't that be de-humanizing China?